


Lost in Time

by Princessleia9977



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Adoption, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Attempted Rape/Non-Con, Child Abandonment, F/M, Female Character of Color, Flash Fic, Gay Male Character, High School, Kidnapping, M/M, Maybe Savitar, Maybe Wally West in later chapters, Metahumans, Minor Character Death, Minor Violence, Mystery, Parent Death, Police, Reverse Flash is stalking people, Single Parents, Speed theft, Teenage Drama, Teenagers, Time Travel, Unknown Child, just go with it, maybe major violence later on
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-15
Updated: 2018-02-19
Packaged: 2018-11-14 07:28:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 30,276
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11203257
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Princessleia9977/pseuds/Princessleia9977
Summary: A girl with a mysterious past moved back to Central City after being away but soon discovers that the city is not the same as she remembers it. She soon starts to realize that there's more to her story than she could even imagine and that she and the Flash are connected in an impossible way. Barry must figure out who she is so he can protect her from the Reverse Flash.





	1. Prologue

February 3, 2000

Central City

Prologue

Big Belly Burger was the last thing Officer Michael Sutton needed.

And yet he couldn't be happier as he scarfed down the juicy and severely unhealthy burger before washing it down with an ice cold soda. He knew he needed to cut down on the fatty foods, but there was nothing in this world or the next that could beat a Big Belly Burger.

Plus, he had been craving a meaty burger ever since his wife had decided that they should go on a vegetarian diet and now there wasn't any dish she made that didn't contain tofu. He felt that after putting up with her tofu casseroles that he was entitled to a cheat day every once in awhile, without her knowledge of course.

"Looks like snow," said his partner lazily as he leaned back in his chair and stared up out of the windshield at the white flecks that were starting to fall to the ground.

This year had produced one of the coldest and iciest winters that Central City had seen in over twenty years and after being hit with continuous snow storms, it was safe to say that everybody was ready for spring to come.

"I wish these snow storms would clear up soon," said Michael as he turned the heat up to try and combat the icy cold weather, "I'm tired of shoveling my driveway every morning."

"Or have to unbury your car from a mound of snow in the morning," added his partner as he sipped down the last of his soda.

Michael was about to reply when all of the sudden a yellow flash appeared out of nowhere and crossed the road right in front of them, forcing Officer Sutton to slam on the brakes which caused the patrol car to slide all over the icy road.

Michael gripped the steering wheel tight until his knuckles became white from the pressure as the car finally came to a full and complete stop. He looked over to his partner to make sure that he was okay and was greeted with a stunned expression.

"What the hell was that?" asked his partner as he clutched the armrest, his eyes the size of saucers.

"It was some sort of streak," said a perplexed Michael as his eyes traveled along the road that was being illuminated by the street lamps before he stepped off the brake and accelerated in an attempt to follow it.

"Well whatever it was it was fast," said his freaked partner, "really fast."

Michael pursed his lips as he turned on the sirens, his eyes searching the landscape for any sign of the yellow streak that had nearly caused them to crash their patrol car. They had been driving around for a few minutes before Michael saw a yellow flash in the corner of his eye and turned to see the streak disappear down a side street.

"There! Did you see that?" asked his partner as he frantically pointed in the direction of the streak.

"I saw it," mumbled Michael as he stepped on the gas and turned down the same street before coming to a full stop at the sight that awaited them in the park.

"My God," breathed Michael as he tried to make sense of what he was seeing, his blue eyes wide with fear as he gripped the steering wheel so hard he thought he was going to break his fingers.

The yellow streak was the only thing he could see as it ran around the park at such an incredible speed that the freshly fallen snow had started to rise up in the air and swirl around the yellow phenomenon.

His partner was frozen still in shock as he too stared at the bizarre scene in front of them and Henry could tell that neither of them knew what to do. Fast moving yellow streaks was definitely not in their police training and there was really no protocol that dictated what they should do.

"Call for backup," shouted Henry as he came out of his reverie and pulled out his gun, which he fully intended to use if need be.

Michael jumped out of the patrol car and raised his gun in the air as he slowly stepped closer to the yellow streak, his partner following closely behind him with his gun raised as well.

The sheer force of the wind that was being produced by the yellow lightning was enough to slow his steps as he pushed against the invisible force. His heart pounded in fear and anticipation as he got close enough to the yellow blur to see that there was something, or someone, trapped inside of the fast moving circle.

He was about to fire off a couple of rounds from his gun when all of the sudden, the yellow streak zoomed past the two officers and disappeared in a flash down the street.

As soon as the streak had disappeared Michael heard a thump as something hit the ground and he wasted no time in running over to inspect whatever had been trapped inside the speed force.

His breath hitched as soon as he saw what the streak had left behind and he quickly holstered his gun before reaching down and grabbing the unconscious little girl into his arms and checking her pulse to make sure she was okay.

"Is that a little girl?" shouted his partner in shock and confusion as he stared down at the limp child.

"Call for an ambulance!" cried Michael as he yanked off his coat and wrapped the girl's small and pale body inside the warm jacket to shield her from the cold. She was so small that the jacket completely dwarfed her tiny frame and Henry was sure she could be no older than two or three years old.

She was dressed only in a flimsy torn nightdress that did nothing to protect her from the harsh winter weather and it had been soaked by the wet snow. Her forehead had a fairly sizable gash that extended from her frizzy hairline down to her left eyebrow and Michael had a feeling that it might leave a faint but noticeable scar once it had healed.

Her skin was deathly pale to the point where it was almost an ashy white and her lips were starting to take on a blue tint, which caused the Officer to hold her tighter in his arms in hopes of keeping her warm until the paramedics arrived.

He could feel her shallow breathing and he knew that she had a pulse, but it was much weaker than what it should be. He prayed to God that the ambulance arrived soon because he knew that this little girl would die without medical attention and he was not prepared to have to go through that.

"Where the hell is that ambulance?" he asked his partner, who was frantically talking over the police radio.

"They're on their way but the ice is making it difficult for them to get through," said his partner.

Michael looked back down at the girl and slowly brushed a tight curly strand of hair away from her ashy brown face as he tried to piece together why this child had been even been in this situation. What was she doing out here at night in a snowstorm with nothing more than a flimsy nightgown on?

Michael at this point had no doubt in his mind that she had either been kidnapped or abandoned, but he had no idea how the yellow streak fit into all of this. Had the yellow streak kidnapped her? Was the yellow streak even a person? If so, how was it possible that someone could travel at that type of speed?

No, it just wasn't possible that a human being could run that fast. But then again, he had just seen the impossible and who was he to judge what was or wasn't possible?

Michael was suddenly pulled from his thoughts when he heard the sound of sirens making their way down the street and he breathed a sigh of relief as the ambulance and the other police cars came to a blaring stop and two paramedics jumped out with a stretcher and a much-needed blanket.

"Just hang on, Sweetheart," he said as he watched the EMT's make their way over to them, "everything is going to be just fine."

He was so focused on the child before him that he failed to notice a man in a yellow suit watching them from the shadows in a nearby alley, his eyes glowing a bright crimson red as he watched the Policeman hoist the girl onto the gurney.

He smiled maliciously at the scene as he imagined all the different ways he could hurt the Flash using this little girl. Of all the ways he could hurt the Scarlet Speedster, this was definitely one of the worst.

"Your turn, Allen," he said before disappearing in a yellow flash.


	2. Chapter 1

Central City

2015

"I hate this," mumbled Nora as she looked out the window at the bustling parking lot of Central City High. She could already tell her first day of school would be hell considering she would be the new student and she hated being the new student.

She didn't know why they had to move away from Coast City in the first place. They had moved away from Central City years ago and she had gotten used to her life in Coast City and now she would have to start all over again.

"It won't be that bad, Nora," said her father, Michael Sutton, reassuringly as he patted her knee, "it's not like you won't know anybody here, kiddo."

Nora rolled her eyes, "I've been gone for four years, dad. I think it's safe to assume none of us know each other anymore."

Her dad smiled sympathetically at her and was about to say something when the bell rang and all the kids started to head into the building.

"You better get going," he said as he handed over her lunch, "don't want to be late on your first day of school."

"I'm already going to be a spectacle," said Nora sarcastically as she stepped out of the car, "might as well not make it any worse than it already it."

"Have a good day! I love you!" shouted her dad through the open window before driving off to start his job at the CCPD. Today would be his first day back ever since they had left four years ago and even Nora had to admit that ever since moving back to Central City his mood had improved considerably. Maybe it was because he was back home or maybe after all these years he was starting to get over the death of her mother, but Nora wasn't complaining.

But this city had changed since they'd left, now there were metahumans wreaking havoc on the city and the only one who seemed able to stop them was the Flash.

Nora would rather have stayed in Coast City than come back here to meta-freak Ville.

"Love you too," mumbled Nora under her breath as she stared up at the tall and threatening building before her. She breathed in deeply before climbing up the stairs, ignoring the curious looks from the other students.

She pulled her American Eagle jacket closer around her as she felt the intense stares of the students in the hallway and she knew that she was already the center of attention.

It was like these kids had never seen a new student before!

"Excuse me," she said as she politely caught the attention of a passerby, "where is the office?"

The boy stopped and smiled at her as his eyes trailed over her body like she some sort of meat sandwich and Nora sighed internally. It was just her luck to stop and ask a hormonal jock where the office was and there was no doubt in her mind that she was already on his hit-list.

"And you are?" he asked as he shot her the most perfect and shiny smile. His teeth were so pearly-white that Nora was sure she had seen him on one of those cheesy posters at the Dentist's Office that showed off the ideal smile. She was also 100% sure that his smile had just permanently blinded her.

"Nora. Nora Sutton," she said as she looked around nervously for an escape route. She knew what it meant to hang out with popular jock guys like him and she had no intention of having a repeat of last time. She had already ridden that train and there was no way she was ever getting back on.

"Well Nora," he said as he drew out the syllables in her name and smiled down at her, "the office is just around that corner," he nodded to the adjacent hallway.

"Thanks," said Nora with a polite smile before setting off in search of the office.

"Hey wait up!" he called as he jogged over to her and Nora cursed as his long legs easily caught up with her.

"I think I can find it my own," said Nora impatiently as she ignored the glares and whispers of a group of girls who were staring at the two of them.

"You sure?" he asked with a cheeky grin, "I wouldn't want you to get lost in here."

"I don't think I'll get lost," pointed out Nora as she stared up into his cerulean blue eyes.

"How do you know that?" he asked with a flirtatious grin.

"Because the Office is right there," said Nora as she pointed to the obvious sign hanging over the door they were standing in front of.

"So it is," he said with a short laugh before the warning bell rang went off.

"You should get to class," said Nora as she pointed over to the clock that was hanging on the far wall, "I wouldn't want you to be late because of me."

"I'm always late," he said with a wink, "I'll see you around, Nora," he said before walking away.

Nora sighed as she watched him walk down the practically deserted hallway and she already knew that he had his sights set on her. And while he was probably one of the hottest guys she had ever met in her life, she knew that she would need to set up boundaries between them if he continued to flirt with her like that.

Nora walked into the office and cringed as soon as she the tacky inspirational posters that littered the inside of the room. She walked over to the front desk where a lady with an older lady with a perm and large glasses sat typing away at the computer and who had failed to see the girl standing in front of her.

"Hello," said Nora as she observed the lady's large and gaudy earrings that were stretching the lady's earlobes far past what was natural.

"Nora Sutton I presume," said the lady in a monotone voice as she grabbed a file from on top of the filing cabinet, "we've been expecting you."

"I know and I-," began Nora before being cut off by the older and grumpy lady.

"You're late so you're going to need this," she said shoving a pink slip into her hands, "and please be sure not to make a habit of it," she said giving the younger girl a pointed stare.

"Sorry," mumbled Nora.

"Here's your schedule, your locker number, and code. Please have all of your teachers sign it and bring it back at the end of the day," she said before returning back to her computer.

"Thanks?" said Nora as she looked through the stacks of papers that had been given to her before making her way over to the door.

"Oh and welcome to Central City High School," said the lady in her famous monotone voice as she continued to type away.

'More like welcome to hell,' thought Nora grimly as she looked down at the map and her schedule, trying to figure out where the heck the English room was.

She eventually found the famed room 108 and as soon as she walked in she could feel everybody's eyes on her. She paused as she took in the sight of about twenty or more students staring at her like she was an alien.

Nora knew that she was an enigma to them. A new girl from Coast City was joining their ranks and of course, new students were always a topic of fascination.

'Not to mention the fact that my birth parents abandoned me in the park and that I was adopted into a white family,' thought Nora grimly as she suddenly found herself uncomfortable under their scrutinizing stares. But they didn't know that Nora had been abandoned by her birth parents and that wasn't anything that she would ever share with them. She didn't want a repeat of middle school when Samantha White told all the other kids that Nora's real parents had hated her so much that they had left her in the park.

"Is this English?" she squeaked out as she looked over to the surprised teacher, who had been busy reading Jane Eyre out-loud when she had burst through the door.

"You must be Nora," he said as he placed the book down and held his hand out expectantly.

Nora stared at his hand for a few seconds as she tried to figure of what he wanted.

To shake my hand?

Does he want my gum?

"You're slip please," he said pointedly as he pointed at the stack of papers in her hands.

"Oh," she said as she handed him the appropriate paperwork and watched as he signed off the slot and handed it back to her.

"You're late," he pointed out as Nora handed him the pink slip, "but I'll let it slide this once because you're new, but from now on I expect you here on time and prepared."

"Yes sir," said Nora as she looked around the class for an empty seat.

"There's an empty seat next to Mr. Jacobs," said the teacher as he pointed to a seat in the middle row, "make yourself at home."

Nora spotted the empty seat but paused as soon as she saw who was sitting in the seat next to her. Mr. Jacobs winked at her and patted the desk next to her, his blue eyes never leaving her as she took her seat and pulled out a notebook and a pencil.

"Fancy seeing you here," he whispered as he leaned in closer to her and smiled devilishly at her.

"It must be fate," said Nora sarcastically as she flung a loose curl around her shoulder and turned her attention to what the teacher was reading.

"So you believe in fate?"

Nora didn't reply to his question as she refocused her attention to the romantic tales of Jane Eyre and Mr. Rochester, which was probably her most favorite love story of all time. She had already read the book for her sophomore years of high school so it didn't matter that they were almost finished with the book since she already knew what would happen.

But that didn't stop her from getting lost in the story as the teacher's soft voice read the words.

She could still feel Jacobs eyes on her the entire time and she did her best to ignore his unwanted stare because she knew there was no way that she could let herself fall for another guy. She had already had her heart broken by one and she wasn't keen on letting another guy do the same thing.

She had already decided at that point that dating in high school was overrated and that it was best for her to probably wait until she was in college to get involved with a person. And besides, her adopted father was a cop so it would fairly easy to scare off any guy who had bad intentions.

It wasn't long before the bell rang and Nora went off in search of her locker to dump some of her load before heading to second-period. Luckily, Mr. Jacobs was not in her second-period class nor was he in her third or fourth-period classes.

As soon as Spanish class was over, Nora launched herself into the bathroom and was about to head into the nearest stall when she spotted a familiar Asian girl who was busy applying fuchsia pink lipstick in the mirror to notice her.

"Katie?" asked Nora as she recognized her old friend from eighth grade.

Katie stopped and looked over to Nora, her eyes going wide as she too recognized her old friend and smiled one of the brightest smiles that Nora had ever seen. It had been four years since they had seen each other and about a year since they had lost contact, but in that moment it was like no time had passed.

"Oh my God Nora?" she said with excitement as she pulled the Nora into her arms, "I haven't seen you since you moved to Coast City!"

"I know, it's been awhile," said Nora with a big smile as she observed her now mature friend. The last time she had seen Katie had been sporting pigtails and bright pink braces, but she could now see that she had grown into a really beautiful woman.

"So what are you doing back here?" she asked as she dumped her lipstick back into her bag and slung it around her shoulders.

Nora shrugged, "guess my dad got tired of Coast City."

Katie laughed, "So you decided to come back here? I would've stayed in Coast City what with everything that's going on in this city."

"Tell me about it," said Nora, "this city has become quite the enigma ever since the Particle Accelerator incident."

"At least we have the Flash," said Katie, "so not everything has gone to hell."

"Yeah, but we shouldn't even have to have a hero to save the city in the first place."

"Can't argue that," said the other girl as a few more students filed into the restroom.

"Hey you're welcome to sit with me and my friends at lunch," said Katie as she made her way over to the door, "we're at the table by the doors." She said before walking out of the restroom and into the cafeteria, leaving Nora to do her business.

Once Nora was done, she made her way out and into the crowded cafeteria and looked around for her friend. She spotted Katie sitting with two other students and made her way over to the chill looking group. She recognized a one from her previous classes and the other she didn't recognize at all, but the nonetheless they all smiled at her warmly as she took her seat.

"Guys," said Katie as she caught the attention of her friends, "this is Nora. She just moved back here from Coast City."

"So you're the new student everyone is talking about?" asked a cute and lanky guy as he extended his hand, "I'm Mark."

"Nora Sutton," she said shaking his hand.

"So what brings you to Central City?" asked a girl with bright pink highlights in her hair, "I'm Kim by the way."

"My dad," said Nora as she took her sandwich out, "he works for the CCPD."

"Nora moved away four years ago, that's how I know her," added Katie as she sipped her water.

"Why'd you guys move away?" asked a curious Mark.

Nora paused, "we moved away after my mom passed away."

It was still hard to think about her mother's death at the hands of a drunk driver, but the pain had eased over the years. Of course, Nora would never get over losing her mother. But she wasn't as depressed as she had been for that first year since the accident.

"Oh, I'm sorry."

"It's okay," said Nora as she placed her half-eaten sandwich down.

A moment of awkwardness passed around the table and Nora cursed herself for making it that way. She should've given them a crap reason instead of telling them that her mother was dead, but it was too late now.

The girl with pink highlights cleared her throat, "so how's your first day here going?"

"It's going okay," admitted Nora with a smile, "but I'm pretty sure I have a stalker already."

"Really? Who?" asked Katie.

"I don't know his first name, but his last name is Jacobs?" asked Nora as she waited to see if they knew who the boy with the cerulean blue eyes was.

"Ethan Jacobs?" asked a shocked Katie.

"If it's Ethan you need to stay away from him," said Mark with a serious look on his face, "he likes to play the field and break girl's hearts."

"He dated my sister Charlotte a few years ago and once he had her v-card he dumped her," whispered Kim, "and that was on prom night."

"Yikes," said Nora, "thanks for the warning. I'll make sure to steer clear of him."

"And make sure to stay clear of his friends," said Mark, "They're all just like him."

"Let me guess," said Nora, "football team?"

They all nodded in unison and Nora sighed as she looked over to Ethan, who shot her a brilliant white smile from the across the lunch room. Nora rolled her eyes before returning to her lunch, her brown eyes refusing to meet his blue ones.

After lunch, Nora hurried to her next class and let out a huge sigh of relief when she found that Ethan Jacobs was not in her fifth-period class nor was he in her last period class. As soon as the last bell rang, Nora grabbed her books and hightailed it out of the school but stopped short when she saw Katie waiting for her patiently by the steps.

"So all in all, how was your first day here?"

"Better than I thought," admitted Nora with a smile.

"Good," said Katie with a big smile as they began to walk away from the school, "so you know about the chemistry test that we have next week? I was wondering if you needed any help studying for it. I mean the material is new to you and I thought you might want someone to catch you up to speed?"

"Sure," said Nora as she came to a stop in front of the curb where her father had told her he would pick her up, "I mean if you're willing too? It would be greatly appreciated."

"It's no problem," said Katie, "when are you free?"

"What about tonight?" asked Nora as she spotted her father's patrol car pull into the parking lot. The test was scheduled for next Monday, which meant that she only had exactly a week to catch up on what the students had been learning in class. Plus, science had never been her strong suit so it was probably best that she got a jump start on it.

"Would your dad be okay with that?" asked Katie as she pulled out her phone to ask her parents.

"Nah," said Nora with a smile, "besides it's not like he doesn't know you."

"Right," said Katie with an uneasy smile, "I'll call my mom and see if she's okay with it." She said as she pulled her phone up to her ear and walked away.

"Hey, kiddo! How was your first day?" asked her father as Nora opened the door.

"Fine," said Nora with a wave of her hand, "Hey dad? Do you remember Katie?"

"Your friend Katie? Yeah, I remember her. Did you see her at school today?"

"Yeah, and I was wondering if Katie could come over to the house and help me study for chemistry? We have a test next Monday and I don't know any of the material and she said she would be willing to help me."

Her dad shrugged, "I don't mind. So long as it's fine with her parents."

"It's fine," said Katie bending over so she could wave to her friend's dad, "Hi Mr. Sutton. How are you?"

"I'm good," he said with a smile as he shooed Nora to the back seat and motioned for Katie to sit in the front passenger seat. Nora sighed as she climbed into the back seat and stared at her father and friend from behind the clear glass wall that separated them and buckled herself in. The ride over to the apartment was full of conversation as Nora's dad asked Katie how she had been these last four years and how her parents were. They also talked a little about the particle accelerator incident and how it had affected the city over the course of the past year.

As soon as they reached their tiny apartment on Infantino Street, the two girls had disappeared into Nora's half unpacked room to start their studying. But studying was the last thing on their mind as they talked about everything that had happened in their lives ever since the move.

"So do you still do photography?" asked Katie as she walked over to Nora's desk and looked at her board and looked at all the photos that were pinned up.

"Freelance," said Nora from the bed as Katie admired the original and creative photos.

"These are really good," said Katie as she studied a few pictures of Coast City and a few of the Grand Canyon that Nora had taken when her father and she had visited it last year.

"Thanks," said Nora as she laid back on her bed and looked over at her untouched chemistry book with a hint of guilt. Katie and she were supposed to be studying but it was clear that neither of them actually wanted too. It was a shame considering Nora was rubbish with the sciences.

"Hey I have a question," said Katie as she came over to sit next to Nora.

"Ask away," said Nora as she diverted her attention away from the textbook.

"So you know how I write for the school newspaper, right?" asked Katie, "well recently I've really been wanting to write an article."

"Okay. On what?" asked a curious Nora as she sat up straight.

"On the Flash," said Katie with uncertainty.

"Um okay," said Nora in confusion, "and what does this have to do with me?"

"Well, I need a photographer to take a few pictures for me."

"Pictures?" asked Nora, "for your article?"

"Yeah and I know you love photography and you're really good at it so I wondering if you would be willing to help me out?" she asked with a hopefully shy smile as she waited in anticipation for Nora's answer.

"Why don't you just use one of the ones on the internet?" asked Nora as she thought about the implications of getting a photo of the Flash. It would be hard considering the guy was faster than lightning and to get a photo of him would mean being in the right place at the right time.

"Well there really aren't that many pictures of him out there and it would be really cool if we could get an original picture of him saving the day."

"I don't know Kate," said Nora with uncertainty as she looked into the hopeful face of her friend. Katie had told her how much she wanted to be a journalist and how much she loved writing for the school newspaper and her own personal blog. This would mean so much to Katie if Nora helped her out and plus, the more Nora thought about it the more she realized that this could really help her career in photography if she did this.

But at the same time, this could be dangerous. What if they got caught up in a metahuman fight and one of them got hurt?

But at the same time, the daredevil in Nora was telling her to do it and Nora cursed herself for being so weak. If they kept a safe distance between them and the Flash, they should be okay. All they had to do was keep their distance and not get in his way.

"Okay," said Nora with a big smile, "I'll help you out."

"Yay!" cried Kate as she wrapped her arms around Nora, "you have no idea how much this means to me."

Nora laughed, "Let's go stalk the Flash! In a non-creepy way of course," added Nora with a giggle.

"Right," said Katie with a wink before looking down at her phone.

"It's my mom," said Kate with a sigh as she stood up and grabbed her bag, "she's waiting for me outside."

"So I guess I'll see you tomorrow?" asked Nora as she hugged her friend goodbye.

"Yeah, for sure," said Katie as the two girls walked down the stairs, "so I was thinking we could meet up after school tomorrow and talk about the article?"

"Sure, where do you want to meet?"

"How about Jitters?" said Katie and Nora smiled at the mention of one of Central Cities most famous coffee houses.

"Sure, see you then," said Nora as she watched Katie walk out of the house and over to her mom's car. She waved at them as they disappeared around the corner and sighed as she wrapped her jacket around her closer.

She closed the door and made her way into the living room, where her father was busy eating a microwaveable meal as he watched the anchorwoman talk about how the Flash had rescued a bunch of people from an office fire in the downtown area. Nora paused as she watched the video clip of a red streak zooming around the place as he worked to save the innocent people that had been caught inside. At the end of the clip, a man in a red suit stood before the camera as the firefighters and policemen started to clap. He smiled at the camera before disappearing in a flash of lightning red and Nora gasped.

For a moment, she was certain that she had seen the smile before. There was just something strangely familiar about the curve of his smile that sent shivers up Nora's spine. It was like a long forgotten childhood memory had just been dragged to the surface and Nora was unsure that she could even explain it.

"You okay, kiddo?" asked her dad from the couch as he looked over at her in concern.

As soon as Nora heard the voice of her father, she snapped out of her reverie and smiled over at the concerned man.

"I'm fine," she said as she looked back over at the TV to see one of the survivors telling the news channel what it was like to be rescued the Flash and sighed, "I'm going to bed."

"Okay, goodnight!" called her father as Nora disappeared into her room. She changed into her pajamas and was in the middle of pulling her kinky curls into a braid when a yellow flash in the corner of her eye caught her attention. Nora walked over to her window and stared at the dark street below her.

Must've been one of the street lamps.

Nora sighed as she pulled the window closed and returned to her position in front of her mirror, totally oblivious to the yellow vibrating man that stood on the other side of the street. His glowing red eyes watching her carefully as she meticulously pulled her black tight curls into a simple braid that fell down her back.

He smiled before disappearing in a flash.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Slow beginning but this story will have A LOT going in future chapters. Hope you enjoyed! Comment and tell me what you thought.


	3. Chapter 2

Central City

2015

Nora stood before the familiar looking building and wondered whether or not she should walk away or go in. She would be lying if she said she didn't have her doubts now that she had been given to time to actually think what she was getting herself into, and yet she couldn't deny that yearning to do it.

She sighed as she looked down at her camera case before looking through the window over to where Katie sat at her computer, patiently waiting for her to arrive so that they could work on this project. Nora frowned as she finally walked into the building and stopped and admire how the place still looked basically the same after all these years. She was happy to see that it was still the same place that she had loved and yet she was nostalgic at the same time.

Her mother and her used to come here all the time.

Nora's eyes drifted over to a table at the far corner as her mind drifted through time to when that table had been theirs. Her mother and her would sit there every Friday after school and they would tell each other how their day had gone as they both sipped on their respective drinks.

It was a mother-daughter tradition that Nora missed desperately.

"Nora!" came Katie's voice as she motioned for her to sit.

"Hey," said Nora as she snapped out of her reverie and came to sit at the secluded table and smiled at the Asian girl. She carefully placed her camera case on the table and scooted her chair in closer to the table before looking up to the other girl expectantly.

"So are you ready to go Flash hunting?" asked Katie with a grin as she took a sip of her white chocolate mocha.

"As ready as I'll ever be," said Nora with a grin as she pulled her wallet out and took out a crisp dollar bill, "but before we plan out our stalking spree, I'm going to go get myself a chai tea."

"Okay."

Nora walked over to the counter where she encountered a chirpy redheaded barista who smiled brightly at her, "Hi welcome to Jitters, what can I get you?"

"A chai tea latte, please," said Nora as she handed the twenty dollar bill over to her.

"Okay," she said as she added the order in and pulled out the appropriate amount of change, "your order will be out soon."

"Thanks," said Nora as she pocketed the change and made her way over to the table.

"So what are you going to name your article?" asked Nora as she took her seat.

"I don't know," said Katie with a perplexed look on her delicate features, "I can't seem to find anything that fits."

"Well we can come up with the name later," said Nora with a shrug, "but first let's talk about how we're going to find the Flash."

"Good idea," said Katie as she turned her computer so that Nora could look at the website that she had been browsing through.

"The Streak Lives?" asked Nora as she quipped an eyebrow and scrolled through the blog at all the different posts, all concerning the Flash and his heroic deeds.

"There's a lot of other blogs out there, but this was one of the first that was dedicated to the Flash. I've been following it since day one."

"Really?" asked Nora as she clicked on one of the posts and briefly read about one of the earliest sightings of the "Streak." A few of these posts had been written before the Flash had been actually confirmed to even exist but now the entire world knew of his existence.

Who didn't know about the Fastest Man in The World?

"There's this one too," said Katie as she clicked on the next tab. Another website dedicated to the Flash popped up and had all the known meta-humans that the Flash had defeated as well as the locations where it had occurred. It also had an alert section that would put out any confirmed Flash sightings and where to find it on a map.

It was creepy cool that people were this devoted to the Flash.

"Here's your drink, ma'am," said one of the barista's as she sat Nora's latte down on the table.

"Thank you," said Nora before taking a sip of her drink before setting it off to the side, "so what else do you have?"

"Check this out," said Katie as she pulled out her bag and set it down on the table with a loud clunk before she started digging around in it for something.

After a few seconds of searching, she finally pulled out a black radio and set it on the table triumphantly.

"Is that a police scanner?" asked Nora as she picked up the device and inspected it.

"Bought one a few days ago," said Katie with a sly grin on her face, "now we'll be able to keep up with what's happening at the CCPD."

Nora hadn't thought about using a police scanner, but nonetheless, it was a great idea. It was better than using some fan website to try and guess where the Flash would be and then driving aimlessly around the city in hopes of running across him.

"So when is your dad expecting you home?" asked Kate as she set aside her empty mug.

"My curfew is seven," said Nora absentmindedly, "why?"

"So I know when to drop you off at your house tonight," said the other girl with a mischievous grin.

"Today?"

"Might as well start now," said Kate with a shrug, "you finished your homework in study hall, right?"

"Well yeah."

"Good," said Kate as she shoved the scanner back in her bag and accidentally knocked her empty coffee mug over. It had started to fall off of the table when all of the sudden a man appeared out of nowhere and grabbed it midair.

Nora had to blink a few times to get over her shock. She could've sworn that the man had been halfway across the room when Katie had knocked the mug over and then all of the sudden he was there. He had literally popped out of thin air but Kate didn't seem to notice anything off as she smiled up at her hero.

Maybe she was just seeing things.

"Oh my God thank you," gushed Kate as the young man handed the unbroken mug over to her with a smile. She smiled and flipped a silky black strand of hair behind her shoulder as she gushed over the admittingly attractive man that had saved her mug from certain death.

"It's no problem," said the man with another smile and Nora's breath hitched at the achingly familiar smile. But it wasn't just his smile that sent shivers up Nora's spine.

Everything about this man was familiar to her from his light brown hair to his twinkling blue eyes and even the way he held himself.

"I'm sorry," said Nora as he was about to walk away, "you look really familiar, do I know you?"

He turned and looked over at here and squinted at her as if he was seeing her for the first time and it left Nora unnerved.

"No," he said as he shook his head, "sorry I don't think we've ever met."

Nora could tell that he was unsure of himself as he began studying her again and she could tell that he honestly couldn't decide whether or not he recognized her.

"Oh," said Nora with a hint of disappointment, "well you have a nice day then."

"You too," he said with a strange look on his face before walking over to a group of people who were seated near the back but not before stopping and looking back at her with a baffled expression.

Brown eyes met blue from across the room and Nora knew that he was just as confused as she was as to this strange feeling that seemed to be taking place between the two of them. Nora quickly averted her eyes when she realized that she had been creepily staring at him like some sort of stalker and when she looked back at him he was already focused on something else.

"Well that was strange," said Kate with a laugh as she hoisted her bag onto her bag.

"Yeah," said Nora as she stared at the group with a far-a-way look on her face. She just couldn't shake the feeling of déjà vu as she looked over at the smiling and laughing group of about five or six people all seated around a table with their mugs.

She felt like someone had just walked over her grave and it left her with goosebumps all over her arms and legs. It was the strangest feeling that she had had ever had in her entire life and Nora was sure there was nothing else that would ever compare to that feeling.

"Hey are you okay?" asked Kate with a worried expression as she pulled Nora out of her reverie.

"Yeah, I'm fine," said Nora as she grabbed her camera case and finished off the last of her latte before the two girls walked out and made their way over to Kate's shiny maroon colored Honda Accord.

"Wow," said Nora as she admired the car, "your parents must love you."

"Sweet sixteen," she said as she threw her bag in the back before sitting in the driver's seat. Nora sat down in the passenger seat and admired the clean interior of the car, which was much cleaner than Nora had expected of a teenager.

Her father would never buy her this nice of a car, or even a car for that matter. She had her license but money was tight with the move and all so it would be awhile before Nora got her own car and a nice one at that.

"Let's go get some Big Belly Burger and then park it at Central City Park and wait for the Flash to come out."

"I wouldn't mind some Big Belly Burger right about now," commented Nora as Kate pulled out into traffic. She hadn't gotten to eat her lunch that day because she had been in the library trying to fit in some study time for chemistry and Mark had been kind enough to help her catch up on the first chapter.

"So did Ethan bother you today?" asked Kate as Nora watched the scenery pass them by from the window.

"Other than sending me flirty smiles every time he saw me?"

Kate giggled, "The whole school is starting to talk about you two."

Nora groaned, "Really?"

"You've already made an enemy out of Victoria Bennet," said Kate.

"Is that the blond chick who keeps glaring at me?"

"Mmmm Hmm," hummed Kate as she tapped her purple nails against the black steering wheel.

"Well she needs to take a chill pill cause I'm not gonna steal her man," said Nora as she finger quoted the word man.

"Oh he's not her man," said Kate with a shake of her head, "she just wishes."

"Lovely," said Nora with a sigh, "she's a crazy delusional blond cheerleader with an entourage."

"Sorry," said Kate sympathetically.

"Nah it's fine," said Nora with a sarcastic shrug, "I've always wanted an arch nemesis."

Katie didn't say anything as she pulled into the drive-thru of Big Belly Burger and both girls ordered their food before setting off for the park with their meals. They ate in the parking lot of the park and Kate turned on the scanner so that they would be aware of any Flash activity that might happen that night.

The girls continued to talk about school as they waited for the scanner to tell them anything. A lot of stuff came over the radio that was not Flash related such as reckless drivers and noise complaints.

So far it had been a relatively major crime-free night and Nora began to doubt that anything remotely Flash related was going to happen that night. About two hours into their stakeout they finally caught their big break when a female responder send out a warning of a robbery in progress in the downtown area.

"What's the address?" asked an excited Kate as she threw the car in gear.

"It's Central City Bank!" said Nora as she pulled up the address on her phone.

"What about the Flash?" asked Kate as she pulled onto the highway, "is he already there?"

Nora pulled out her phone and pulled up the website to see if anyone posted anything new on the Flash and shrieked when she saw that there was a confirmed sighting of him at the bank that had been posted less than a minute ago.

"He's there!" said Nora before pulling up the live feed of the Flash at the bank but cringed when she realized that the footage was rubbish because a bystander with an unsteady hand was filming it.

"We need to hurry," said Kate as she tried to weave through the traffic, "he'll be gone by the time we get there."

Nora watched as the Flash zoomed out of the building and threw two tied up men at the cops before running away and she closed out of the app with a sigh.

"We already missed it," she said.

"We did?" asked a disappointed Kate as she pulled off the highway and into a nearby Target parking lot.

"Sorry, maybe next time?" said Nora with sympathy. She could tell how disappointed Kate was at the fact that they had missed the Flash and she couldn't deny that a part of her was disappointed as well. They had been so close and yet so far away and it was annoying how the Flash could work so fast and then be gone in the blink of an eye.

"Of course we wouldn't get lucky on the first day," she said as she began driving, "we'll just have to be quicker next time, right?"

"Right," said Nora, "he can't outrun us forever."

Nora made it home that night with ten minutes to spare before seven and sighed when she realized that her father would be working late due to the robbery and decided that she would make sure that he had dinner when he got home.

She made spaghetti for herself and put a plate in the fridge for her father before she retired into her room and started getting ready for bed. She pulled her hair into a braid and washed her face in the sink before drying off and staring at her reflection in the mirror.

She absentmindedly traced the faint scar on her forehead that went from her hairline to her left eyebrow and sighed as she tried not to think about how she had come about that scar.

Had it been by her birth parents hand? Had they physically hurt her before abandoning her in that park?

She hoped that was not the case but she wouldn't be surprised in the least if it was. But she would never know so it was probably best not to ponder things that she would never get the answer too.

And plus, something told her she wouldn't like the answer.

Nora sighed as she walked out of the bathroom and crawled into queen sized bed and set her alarm for the next morning before resting her head against her pillows.

That night she dreamt of a man with glowing eyes and a yellow suit and yet there was something that told her it wasn't a dream.

It was a memory.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comment and tell me what you thought!


	4. Chapter 3

Central City

2015

Nora tapped her foot against the shiny marble floor as she waited for the elevator to come to a halt. She hummed lightly to herself as she switched the bag of food to her other hand and leaned against the railing.

She was thankful that her dad had left her the car that morning so she wouldn't be locked up in the house on a bright and sunny Saturday, but it had come with the promise that she would bring him lunch at his work and Nora was more than happy to oblige him.

Finally, the elevator dinged and Nora stepped out and looked around the busy CCPD as she tried to find her father in the crowd of uniformed officers. Her heels clicked against the floor as she made her way over to a nearby bench and pulled out her phone and messaged her dad to tell him that she was there with his lunch.

"Nora," said her father from the top of the stairs with a bright smile on his face as he made his way over to her.

"Hey," said Nora as she returned the smile and stood up to greet her father, "I brought lunch."

"Big Belly Burger?" he asked as he accepted the plastic bag with his burger and fries inside.

"Of course," said Nora, "only the best for my hero," she said as she poked his shiny badge that stuck out against his blue uniform.

Her dad smiled as he started scrounging around in the bag, "did you get lunch for yourself?"

"Mines at the bottom," she said as she pointed to the white to-go box at the bottom, "I was going to eat it at home."

"What? You don't want to eat with your old man?" he asked jokingly.

"Well I thought you would be working," said Nora defensively, "do you want me to eat with you?"

"I'm on break and there's a break room," he asked hopefully.

"Okay sure," said Nora.

"Great," he said, "I have to go do something right now but I'll be back in a minute."

Nora sighed as she watched her father disappear up the stairs and took the time to look around at the huge gold-colored mural that depicted the ancient Greek gods. It had been years since she had last stepped foot in this department, but she had never forgotten the mural that she had used to look at as a child.

But the more Nora stared at the mural the more it left her unnerved.

To the untrained eye, it looked like a typical picture depicting some of Greece's most powerful god's and Nora was certain that she had never thought anything special of it until now.

There was just something about the picture that made her feel as though they represented something more than just powerful Greek gods.

Nora stepped closer to the mural until she stood directly in front of it and reached her hand up to place an unsteady hand on the picture.

"Hey," came a strangely familiar voice from behind her, "are you okay?"

Nora whipped around and froze when she spotted the guy from Jitters standing behind her with a concerned look on his face. His eyes widened for a fraction of a second before he shook it off and took a cautious step towards her.

"What?" asked a dumbstruck Nora as she took in his casual appearance. The familiar twinge of recognition flooding her as it had at Jitters a few days ago when he had saved Katie's mug.

"I said are you okay?" he asked with genuine concern as he stuffed his hands into his pockets.

"I-I'm fine," she said, "I was just admiring the picture."

His eyes wandered over to the picture and a small smile graced his lips, "it's pretty cool, right?"

"Yeah," agreed Nora, "It's a little fancy for a police department though."

"I think it's a nice touch," he said as he defended the mural of the gods.

"But why doesn't it feature the whole pantheon?" asked a curious Nora as she averted her eyes over to the picture, "why those ones?"

The man squinted up at the picture and shrugged nonchalantly, "huh, I never noticed that before."

"How can you not notice it?" asked Nora with a small laugh as she pointed at his ID card, "don't you work here?"

"You got me there," he said holding his hands up, "I'm Barry by the way," he said as he extended his hand for her to shake.

"I'm Nora," she said as she shook his hand. Barry paused at the mention of her name and Nora was sure she had seen a flash of pain dance across his face before disappearing behind his famous smile.

"Nora," he said softly, "that's a really beautiful name."

"Thank you," she said honestly at the compliment. She hadn't known where she had gotten the name, but it was the only thing she had of her life before getting adopted by the Sutton's. Her parents hadn't picked out the name, but they loved it nonetheless and when they adopted her they gave her the name Nora Anne Sutton. Nora had no idea what her full birth name was but she was more than happy being a Sutton.

"So Nora," he said, "what are you doing here?"

"Bought lunch for my dad," she said as she held up the bag for him to see.

"You're dad works here?" he asked curiously.

"Michael Sutton?" she asked as recognition at the mention of the name hit Barry.

"You're Officer Sutton's daughter?" he asked as he reexamined her again as though he was trying to decide if that's why she looked familiar to him. Nora thought maybe they had met years ago and that's where she recognized him from, but that didn't quite seem right to her.

"Yeah," she said as she shifted her weight from one foot to the other and looked over to the stairs to see her father talking with one of his colleagues.

"Well it was nice meeting you, but I have to get back to work," he said as he looked down at his watch, "you enjoy lunch with your dad."

"Thanks, I will," she said as she watched him walk away with a small smile on her lips.

"Hey kiddo, ready to eat?" asked her dad as he made his way over to her with a big smile plastered all over his face.

"Yeah," she said as she spared Barry one last look before following her dad into the breakroom to eat their lunch. By then Nora's appetite had magically disappeared and all she could do was pick at her food as her mind traveled far away.

There was just something strange going on and Nora's mind was telling her that this was not her imagination. She had been having strange dreams as of late but they didn't feel like typical dreams.

They felt like memories.

And it wasn't that far out of the realm of possibility that they could be memories. Nora had absolutely no memories past the age of three and her therapist had told her parents that it was because of the trauma she had experienced that night. She couldn't even tell the police where she had come from or how she had ended up in that park, the only thing she could tell them was her name and that didn't really help them.

They had originally believed that Nora had been kidnapped, but they couldn't find any information to support this claim. Nobody had filed a missing person's report and nobody had come forward when they put her in the news in hopes of finding her family.

Eventually, they had come to the conclusion that Nora's biological family had abandoned her in that park and the Sutton's were more than willing to make her a part of their family. They officially adopted her the following year and they gave up the search for her birth family.

And Nora was perfectly happy with that. Her birth parents had abandoned her in that park in the dead of winter and her father had found her that night and he would never abandon her like they had. He didn't leave her bedside in the hospital and he and mom had welcomed her into their home and hearts, which made them her family.

It had taken Nora years to come to terms with being abandoned, but she no longer felt the desire to know why.

After lunch with her dad was over, Nora was about to leave to go back home when she received a text from Kate telling her to meet her at Jitters. Nora sighed as she read the text, she would be lying if she said she wanted to spend her Saturday Flash hunting. They had spent the previous week waiting for him to do another heroic act and Nora was beginning to lose hope that they would ever reach their goal.

Nora hadn't realized it until now, but Kate was obsessed with the Flash. All Nora wanted was to help her friend and get a wicked cool picture of the superhero, but this was starting to become ridiculous.

But Nora had promised that she would help her friend out and Nora wasn't one to back out of a deal. So she drove to Jitters and found the other girl typing away at her computer with another white chocolate mocha next to her.

"Hey," said Nora as she slid into the opposite chair, "I got your text."

"Good," said the other girl as she turned the computer over for Nora to see the website she had been searching through.

Nora stared at the familiar face of Harrison Wells and looked over to Kate with a confused look. She recognized the man as the founder of STAR Labs as well the man behind the Particle Accelerator that had turned this city upside down.

"I figured if we can't get a story on the Flash, then why not a story of the man who created the Flash?" she said.

"What do you mean?" asked Nora, "you can still write a story on the Flash."

Kate shook her head defensively, "If I'm to write a story on the Flash, then I need to be there. I need to experience the story for myself and I haven't been able to do that."

Nora groaned in annoyance, "you don't have to be there to write the story."

"You don't understand," bit out Kate in annoyance, "I want first-hand experience, not just someone telling me what it was like to see the Flash save the day. And if I can't do that, then I'll just write a story about the man behind the Flash."

"And how are you going to do that?" asked Nora as she crossed her arms, "he's been a recluse ever since the Particle Accelerator incident and for a good reason."

"I have my sources," said Kate with a grin, "anonymous of course."

"And what do your sources tell you?"

"That Mr. Wells likes Big Belly Burger and he often goes to the one on Collins Street," she said with a sly smile, "which is about two blocks away from STAR Labs."

"Really?" asked Nora as she tried to imagine a brilliant scientist like Harrison Wells eating greasy fast food, "how are we going to know if he's there?"

Kate grinned, "Apparently Harrison Wells really likes Big Belly Burger because he's there at least three times a week, maybe more."

"So what? We ambush him while he's eating a burger?" Nora wouldn't say it, but she felt as though that would be rude to interrupt his dinner with their nosy questions. The poor guy was already a pariah in the media and was the subject of ridicule for the incident.

He probably didn't need two teenage girls breathing down his neck just for a high school newspaper article.

"When else are we going to have an opportunity like this?" asked Kate, "do you know what this would do for my career? If I managed to get an interview with one of the most brilliant minds of our time-."

"I get it," said Nora as she interrupted Kate's tirade, "you'll be golden."

"So you understand why we have to do this?"

Nora sighed as she leaned back in her chair and nodded. She didn't know why Kate needed her for this but she agreed nonetheless to go with her. But that didn't stop Nora from feeling as though Kate was becoming a little bit too much obsessive over this whole Flash thing and that it might be best if Nora stopped spending so much time with the other girl. She had spent practically every waking moment outside of school with Kate because she was desperate to reconnect with her old friend, but this didn't feel like a healthy way to do so.

"I'll go with you to talk to Harrison Wells," said Nora with a stony face as she stared at the other girl, "but after that, I'm done running around this city trying to find the Flash."

"Why? I thought you said you wanted the picture of him," said Kate as she set her computer to the side.

"I do," said Nora, "but I can't keep doing this."

Kate stared at Nora, "so you don't want to help me out anymore?"

Nora sighed, "not if it's going to take up all of my time."

"Fine," said Kate, "after we interview Dr. Wells, you can call it quits."

"Thank you," said Nora sincerely. She could tell that Kate wasn't pleased with her calling it quits, but she could tell that she was not angry at her and Nora was grateful.

Nora and Kate then proceeded to make plans to swing by Big Belly Burger tomorrow and see if the famed Scientist came by before Nora made her way home to spend the rest of her Saturday night to herself.

Her father was still working and wouldn't probably be home till late and that gave Nora ample time to do what she pleased. Usually, Nora spent her Saturday nights watching Netflix but Nora felt compelled to get outside and do some exercise. It had been ages since she had lost gone for a run and the weather that night was perfect for an evening jog.

And Nora really needed to clear her mind of everything that had happened that day so she donned a pair of running shorts and her track shirt and headed outside. There was a sizable park nearby that was perfect for a nice jog, which was a far better option than just jogging on the sidewalk of the street that they lived on.

Nora plugged in her earphones and hit her exercise playlist that was full of energizing and upbeat songs before she pulled her hair into a high ponytail and started to make her way to the park. She ran to the beat of her music and reveled in the feeling of the wind hitting her face and her Nikes hitting the asphalt as her mind traveled to a place far-a-way.

She had always loved to run because she liked the feeling of moving fast from one place to the other and it was something that she had done quite regularly when she lived in Coast City as well as being on the track team. But while Nora had always loved the feeling it had given her, she had always felt as though there was something missing whenever she did it.

She didn't know when she first realized it, but for some reason, she felt as though she should be doing more than just running for her track team. She had always felt like a part of her was missing and after moving the Central City she had decided not to join another track team. Her schedule for Junior year was already hectic without devoting her time to a track team and had decided instead to dedicate more of her time to photography.

Nora exhaled a deep breath as she slowed down her pace to look at her surroundings and noticed that the park was completely empty except for her. She had been so lost in her thoughts that she hadn't noticed that there was no one around and Nora couldn't help but feel strange as soon as she noticed.

The sun was beginning to dip over the horizon and Nora decided that it was best if she turned around and headed home before it was completely dark. She could feel her senses start to tingle as she stared around at the foliage around her as if someone was watching her from the trees.

Nora was about to turn around when her eyes caught something red in the corner of her eye. She whipped around froze when she saw two glowing red eyes watching her from the dark woods, but she had no idea what sort of creature was spying on her and Nora decided it wasn't worth it to wait and see.

She turned to make a mad dash out of there but gasped when she came face to face with the very thing that haunted her dreams. The man in the yellow suit stared down at her with glowing red eyes and Nora could do nothing but stand completely still in fear and shock as the vibrating man took a small step towards her. He stopped right in front of her and tilted his head to the side as he observed the shaking girl in front of him but remained silent as he stared into her deep brown eyes.

"P-please," she hiccupped out, "d-don't hurt me."

"I won't hurt you," he said with a deep and unnatural sounding voice, "at least, not yet."

"W-why would you want to h-hurt me?" she said in absolute fear as tears started to pour out of her eyes and run down her tan cheeks.

"I think you know the answer to that, Nora," he said before disappearing in a yellow flash.

Nora stood frozen in place in fear as she tried to make sense of what she had just seen, but she couldn't seem to wrap her mind around it. The man who had haunted her dreams was real and he was a speedster just like the Flash, but Nora knew that this man was not anything like the Flash. The man in the yellow suit had just threatened her, but why? She hadn't done anything and she was just a normal person, so why her?

It was after a few moments of stunned silence that Nora finally came to her senses and sprinted as fast as she could down the pavement and towards her apartment where she shut herself in her room and locked the door before crying into her pillows.

Her nightmare had just become reality and she had no idea what do with herself now that she knew he was not just a figment of her imagination.

He was real and alive and something told her this was not the first time that she had ever met the man in yellow, and she had a feeling it wouldn't be the last.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comment and tell me what you thought!


	5. Chapter 4

Central City

2015

It was getting late and there was no sign of Harrison Wells anywhere. Nora and Kate sat at a table in the far corner and kept their eyes locked on the doors, but were starting to lose hope that he would show up that night.

"I don't think he's coming," said Nora as she downed the last of her water.

"Just a few more minutes," said Kate desperately as she watched a couple that had been there as long as they had get up and walk out of the door.

Nora sighed as she leaned back in her seat and checked the time on her phone, which told her that they had been waiting there for over an hour. According to Kate's anonymous source, Wells was most likely to be there after seven and it was already starting to hit eight-thirty and Nora didn't have much time before she should be getting home. It was a school night and she knew her father would not allow her to stay out past nine at the least, and it would take her at least twenty more minutes to get home.

And plus, Nora didn't really feel safe when she was away from home now that she knew there was a man in a yellow suit that had said that he would hurt her in the near future. Nora was terrified that he would show up and threaten her again, so she always kept an eye out for a yellow flash. She didn't know why he had approached her or how he seemed to know who she was and she didn't know what he wanted with her.

All she knew was that she never wanted to see him ever again.

After a few minutes of silence, Nora was about to tell Kate that it was time for them to go when she heard the mechanical whirr of a motorized wheelchair making its way into the restaurant and she saw that the man in it was none other than Harrison Wells himself.

Nora nudged Kate and pointed over to the counter where the Scientist was ordering his food and they both watched as he paid for his food and then made his way over to an empty table.

"What do we do?" asked Nora in a hushed whisper as she watched him drink his soda as he waited for his food.

"We talk to him," said Kate as she slung her bag over her shoulder and confidently walked over to his table.

"Excuse me, Mr. Wells?" asked Kate as Nora timidly made her way over to stand behind her friend and look over at the man whom she had only ever seen in pictures.

His face had been plastered all over the news when the Particle Accelerator incident had occurred and Nora remembered seeing his face on their television set back in Coast City but never had she ever thought she would ever get the chance to meet the infamous scientist. And now she was meeting the very man who had inadvertently turned this city upside down, but he was also the man who was responsible for creating the Flash and Nora couldn't help but feel awe at the prospect.

He folded his hands in his lap as he looked up at the two girls with mild interest as he looked them over, his blue eyes widening for a fraction of a second upon landing on Nora. It seemed as though he knew her just from looking at her, but Nora was positive that she had never met this man before in her entire life except for what she had seen on the news.

"That would be Dr. Wells," he said as he pushed his glasses further up his nose, "and you two young ladies are?"

"I'm Katelyn and this is Nora," she said as she pointed at herself and then over to Nora, "and we were just wondering if we could ask you a few questions about the Particle Accelerator?"

He sighed as he crossed his arms and stared pointedly up at them, "are you two reporters?"

"No," said Kate, "well sort of-."

"I don't need another reporter dragging my name through the mud, Ms. Katelyn," he said with a stony expression, "I've already paid for my mistakes and I would appreciate it if you and your kind would please just leave me alone."

"We're not reporters," said Nora as she took a step forward, "we're students at CCHS and we were wondering you would be open to an interview for an article we're writing for the school newsletter?"

He sighed as some of the hostility in his eyes disappeared, "what sort of newsletter?"

"It's about influential people here in Central City," said Kate, "and I was hoping to write about one of the greatest scientific minds of the century."

He paused at Kate's words before letting out a bitter laugh, "and let me guess, you'll be writing about how my Particle Accelerator has influenced this city?"

Nora and Kate looked at each other before looking down into the expectant eyes of Harrison Wells as he searched both of their faces for the truth.

"Listen," he said, "I'm flattered that you two young Ladies wanted to talk to me, but I don't want to talk about the incident. I made a mistake and I've paid for it and now I would like to move on, but I'm finding that people in this city can't seem to let it go."

"How can they?" asked Nora defiantly, "this city has literally been turned upside down and I think it's natural that they want answers."

"And they have answers, Ms. Nora," he said, "you want to know what happened the night? Then look it up. There are thousands of articles swimming around the internet these days that I'm sure two young teenage girls like yourself will have no trouble in accessing."

"What about the Flash?" asked Nora, "you don't want to talk about the superhero that you inadvertently created?"

Harrison Wells paused at her words before looking up at her with an amused glint in his blue eyes, "you are persistent aren't you, Ms. Nora?"

"My father always tells me that," said Nora with a stone cold face as she stared into his passive gaze.

"I'm sure he does," said Harrison with a pointed look as he leaned closer to her, the corner of his mouth twitching before he leaned back in his wheelchair.

Nora tilted her head as she tried to discern why he was staring at her like that. The way he looked at her, it was as though he knew something that she didn't and it left her unsettled.

There was just something about the Scientist that made Nora feel weird, and it wasn't just his bad attitude towards the press. There was something genuinely unsettling about Harrison Wells but Nora just couldn't quite place her finger on it.

"Please Dr. Wells," said Kate with a pleading look, "it would mean so much if I could just get a quote from you. We won't bother you again."

Harrison Wells sighed as he plucked his glasses off his face and folded them before placing them on the table and scrubbed his hand over his face with a big sigh.

"I apologize," he said truthfully as he looked up into Katie's hopeful face, "you're not reporters and I shouldn't have snapped at you two. It's just that the press is always breathing down my neck for a story when I've already told them everything they need to know."

"The media can be demanding at times," admitted Kate with a small smile.

"You're telling me," he said as he placed his glasses back on his face and folded his hands over his lap, "they practically ripped me to shreds on public television and painted me out to be some sort of crazed scientist so I'm sure you can understand why I'm not a fan of them."

"We all make mistakes," said Nora, "yours was just on a much larger scale than most everybody's."

Harrison nodded solemnly, "I wish more people would see it like you do, Nora. I made a mistake and I've paid for it, I just wish people would accept that and let me move on."

"What about the Flash? Are you happy to know that your mistake has made one of the greatest heroes of our time?" asked Kate as she started jotting things down in her notebook.

"I am happy to know that there is someone out there taking care of the aftermath," he said with a smile, "I only regret the manner in which he had to come into existence."

Nora could've sworn she saw something amid to pride in his eyes at the mention of the Flash and she could tell that Harrison Wells did not regret having inadvertently created him. But she could tell that there was more to that story than he was letting on but she said nothing as she watched Kate greedily jot down his words on her notepad.

"Now," he said as one of the employees brought out his food and set it down in front of him before sending him a smile and walking away, "is that all you Ladies need?"

It was obvious he wanted to eat his food and the two girls had gotten what they had come for, plus it was high time Nora got home before her dad sent out an APB and dragged her home. It was already nine and she should already be home and she knew that she would receive a reprimanding as soon as she walked through the door so she sent him a quick text to assure him she would be home soon.

"Yes," said Kate as she stuffed her notepad into her bag, "Thank you so much for taking the time to talk to us, Dr. Wells."

"You're quite welcome," he said as he set his gaze on Nora, "you two should probably be heading home. I'm sure your parents wouldn't want you out this late on a school night."

"Have a nice night," said Nora as they said their farewells and made their way over to Kate's car.

"Wow," said Kate with a big grin on her face as he buckled herself in, "I can't believe we just met Harrison Wells!"

"Me neither," said Nora with a very small smile as her eyes drifted over to the large circular building that sat just a few blocks ahead of them. It was hard to believe that all of this cities problems had originated there in that very laboratory, but there was no denying it as they drove past the huge complex that had been gated from the outside community.

"My dads going to kill me," as Nora looked at the clock, which read nine-fifteen. Nora's dad was a pretty laid back person who did not have very many rules, but what rules he did have Nora was expected to obey them without question. She would either be reprimanded or get punished dependent on what mood he was in that night and Nora couldn't blame him if he chose to punish her.

Nora sighed in anticipation as Kate parked in front of their apartment and she quickly bid her friend goodnight before walking through the front door. She had expected her father to be standing there with his hands on his hips ready to berate her for breaking curfew but found the apartment silent and dark upon entering.

"Dad?" she called out as she shrugged her coat off and made her way into the living room to see the TV on and her father fast asleep on the couch.

Nora turned the tv and the lights off before tiptoeing into her room and changed into a comfy pair of sleep shorts and an oversized t-shirt before heading off into the bathroom to wash her face and brush her teeth.

She walked back into her room where she sat down in front of her computer before typing in Harrison Wells into the internet search engine and waited patiently for the results to upload. She was not surprised when thousands of websites and articles popped up as well as many different pictures. She browsed through a few different sites before leaning back in her chair with a sigh.

There was just something sketchy about the scientist and it felt as though she was missing something important about him. There was something wrong and Nora felt compelled to try and investigate and see why she felt this way about him.

Nora was about half-way through reading an article about Simon Stagg's murder when her lamp suddenly shut off. Nora bent down and checked to see it her foot hadn't accidentally turned off the dual outlet that sat under her desk and found that it had become undone. She plugged it back in and sat up and went to turn on the lamp when she let out an audible gasp when she saw the reflection of the man in the yellow suit standing behind her in her laptop monitor. She whipped her head around to see the vibrating man in yellow glaring at her with his malicious red eyes.

"Nora Sutton," he said in his deep and unnatural voice, "why are you investigating Harrison Wells?"

Nora sat frozen at the question as she tried to formulate an explanation to the man, but found that she could only shake in fear as she stared up into his eyes.

"I-I don't know w-what you mean," she finally managed to say.

"You talked to him earlier tonight," he said in a gravelly voice, "I want to know why."

"I-It was for an article," said through her tears.

"Just an article?"

"Yes!" she said as she tried to contain her hysteria, "my friend Kate wanted to talk to him, not me!"

He paused as he considered her words before stepping closer to her and raising his hand in a threatening way as it started to vibrate.

"You should be careful, Nora. The only reason you're alive right now is because I allow you to be," he said as he inched closer to her.

"W-what do y-you mean?" she asked as she kept her eyes fixed on his vibrating hand.

"That night in the park," he said, "I could've killed you but I didn't."

Nora stared at him dumbfounded as she tried to make sense of what he had just said. He knew about that night in the park all those years ago, but what did he mean he could've killed her?

"I don't understand," she said blatantly, "how do you know about that?"

"I know everything about you Nora," he said as yet again inched forward, "I know who you are and I know what really happened that night in the park."

"My dad found me that night," said Nora as she tried to best to act defensively, "He said I was abandoned there."

"He lied to you."

"Why would my own father lie to me about that?" asked Nora with desperation.

"Why don't you ask the man who you call father?"

"W-what do you mean?" asked Nora as she froze. Her father had told her what happened in the park that night, but now this yellow speedster was telling her that was all a lie?

Surely her own father would have told her the truth of what happened that night. She didn't see why he would keep anything about that night a secret from her, but something told her that maybe he had.

"My father wouldn't lie to me," she said shaking her head and denying what the speedster was telling her. But she knew she was trying to assure herself of that because she wasn't so sure anymore.

"That man is not your father," bit out the man in his gravelly voice.

"He is too!" said Nora with a flare of anger. Just because she was adopted didn't make her any less his daughter and she was tired of people asking about her "real" parents. Rachel and Michael Sutton were her real parents and she was their real daughter.

"No, he isn't."

Nora decided that arguing with the man over her paternity was pointless as her shoulders visibly sagged and she looked at him with fear and desperation, "what do you want with me? Who are you?"

He walked over to her until he stood directly in front of her and stared down into her watery brown eyes, "I'm the man that left you in that park that night, Nora."

Nora sniffled, "why?"

"I can't tell you that," he said, "but you'll find out soon enough."

Nora stared up at him, "why are you telling me this?"

Nora swore she saw a smile spread across his lips but she couldn't be sure with how much he was vibrating and he raised his vibrating hand and slowly brought it forward until it was mere inches away from her chest.

"I came here to warn you, Nora. If you and your friend don't stop investigating Harrison Wells or the Flash then-," he said as his hand inched forward until it lightly touched Nora's sternum before coming to a sudden halt.

"I'm sure you get the picture," he said to the shaking girl as he withdrew his hand and disappeared in a flash of light, leaving the petrified teen behind.

Nora tried her hardest to regulate her breathing as she turned her computer off and locked her window before running off and making sure that every single window and door in the apartment was locked and closed. She knew that it wouldn't keep a Speedster out but it provided her with some reassurance, which was what she really needed at the moment.

"Honey?" asked her dad as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes and looked over at his panicked daughter, "what's wrong?"

"Dad. We need to talk."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comment and tell me what you thought! Anyone have any guesses as to how the Reverse-Flash knows Nora? I'm interested to know what you think!


	6. Chapter 5

Central City

2015

"Dad. We need to talk."

Nora stared at her father indignantly as he raised his eyebrows before taking a seat at the kitchen table and motioning to the empty seat across from him. Nora sat down and stared across the table at her father, who was starting at her in turn with an expectant look as he crossed his arms over his chest.

Nora took a deep breath as she wrapped her arms around herself, "we need to talk about that night in the park."

Her father stared at her with a blank expression, "Nora, you know what happened that night."

"I know what you told me," she said, "but I want the truth."

Her father shook his head as he gave her a strange look, "sweetheart I-."

"Just tell me," said Nora as she interrupted him. She tried her best to keep her tone level but her voice started to crack as she felt hot tears start to form around her eyes.

She wanted the truth and she wanted it now.

Her father folded his hands in his lap, "I'm not entirely sure what happened in the park that night."

"What happened," said Nora.

"I saw something," he said as he rubbed his hand over his mouth and nose, "I'm not sure what it was, but it wasn't normal."

"Was it- was it a yellow flash?" asked Nora.

His eyes widened, "how do you know that?"

"Because he's real," she said, "he's a real person and he's been stalking me."

"Stalking you?" asked her father in a worried tone, "has he hurt you?"

"Oh God," said her dad as she stood up and started to pace around the room, "did he talk to you?"

"Yes," said Nora as tears poured freely down her face, "he told me that he was the one who left me in the park that night and that I was lucky he didn't kill me."

Her father bowed his head and rubbed his fingers over his temples. Nora could tell he was distressed just from the way his posture had stiffened at what she had just told him.

"He threatened you?" he asked after a few moments of complete silence.

"Yes," said Nora as she bowed her head.

"Why? What does he want with you?" asked her father as he placed his hands on the back of his chair and stared down at her as he waited for her answer.

"I don't know," she said as she shook her head honestly, "he said the only reason that I'm alive is because of him and that you weren't my real father."

"He said that?" asked her father, "he said that to you?"

Nora nodded her head yes as her stomach dropped as she realized something awful.

"Dad, you said I was abandoned in the park but what if-?" she didn't want to know the answer to that question, but it was something she had to ask.

"What if I was kidnapped?"

"No," said her father adamantly, "there was no missing person's report. If you had been kidnapped, your birth family would've come forward."

"What if they couldn't?" she asked, "what if the yellow flash prevented them from doing so?"

Her father still shook his head as he refused to believe that his wife and he had adopted a kidnapped child. They had tried to look for Nora's birth family, but no one had come forward to claim the little girl and there were no missing children that matched her description and him and his wife had fallen in love with her. They knew that Nora belonged with them and there was nothing stopping them from adopting her.

Michael had once entertained the idea that Nora had been kidnapped, but even then they wouldn't have been able to find her birth family. They had tried and eventually, everybody just started believing that Nora's birth family didn't want her and that's why no one came forward.

Either way, they abandoned her that night and they had no longer been a concern of his until now.

"I never knew what it was," he began again, "my partner and I had told the police that there had been some sort of electrical power surge because we weren't sure what to tell them. But after the Particle Accelerator incident and seeing the Flash I-."

"It made sense," finished Nora.

"A yellow speedster," he said with a bitter laugh, "I don't know how but there's another flash out there."

"And not a good one," said Nora with a sigh.

"No," said her father, "which means from now on you need to be on high alert. If you see him again you need to tell me immediately."

Nora nodded in agreement, "but how are we going to stop him? He's a speedster! How are we gonna stop a speedster?"

Nora was on the verge of hysteria at that point because of the kind of threat she was facing. Nora was not a speedster nor did she have any type of superpower, which made her completely defenseless against someone like the yellow flash or even other metahumans for that matter.

There was no way to defend herself and that scared her.

The only person who could help her at this point was the Flash himself, but how was she supposed to get him to help her? She had no idea who he was or where to even find him.

Her father looked just as lost as she did and Nora could tell that he was just as scared as she was. The last time her father had looked this scared was when the doctor had told them that mom was brain dead and that she would never wake up. Nora had been terrified at the prospect of losing her mother and she had been so certain that she would wake up and that life would go back to normal.

It was only a few days after that that they finally decided to take her off life-support and the man who had decided to drink and drive had gotten ten years in prison for manslaughter.

It wasn't fair that he got to live in prison using taxpayer money while her mother's life had been stolen, just like it wasn't fair that a speedster was intent on making Nora's life hell.

"Here's what we're going to do," said her father as he began to formulate a plan, "I'm going to ask around at the precinct see if anyone knows anything about the yellow flash and you are going to go to school and come home straight after. I'll pick you up from there and take you to the station and see what we can do, okay?"

Nora nodded her head as she wiped the tears from her eyes. It was probably the best plan that they would ever come up with and all though it didn't provide her with much reassurance, it was the only thing that they could really do at this point.

She would have to tell Kate that they should stop with this whole Flash and Harrison Wells thing that they were doing. It was clear that there was some sort of scandal that the man in yellow did not want them investigating and it was clear that they needed to back off.

Whatever it was it was not worth their lives and that was final.

"Nora sweetheart," said her dad as he pulled her into a hug and ran his hand over her hair in a soothing manner, "everything is going to be okay. I won't let him hurt you."

"I know," said Nora as she wrapped her arms around his middle. Her father would die before he let anything bad happen to her, but he couldn't protect her from everything bad in this world and he couldn't always be there for her.

It was scary to think about but it was a part of life.

"Now," he said as he pulled her away and looked down at her, "it's late and you should be getting to bed."

Nora looked over to the microwave clock to see that it was almost one o'clock in the morning and she had her chemistry test the next day that she needed sleep for if she was going to be focused and alert for it.

She bid her father goodnight before crawling under the covers and listened to the sound of rain as it lightly pounded against her bedroom window. She tried to fall asleep, but her mind was still spinning from everything that had happened in just one day.

It didn't help that she could hear her father pacing around the apartment until the wee hours of the morning and she knew that he too could not fall asleep out of fear that the man in yellow would come by again. He would stop by her room occasionally and stare at her from the door and Nora pretended to be sleeping every time he did.

By the time Nora's alarm had gone off, she had only gotten maybe an hour of shut-eye and that wasn't nearly enough for her function normally on. Her father had asked her over breakfast if she wanted to stay home that day, but Nora had graciously declined as she picked at her pancakes before heading off to her room to get ready for the day.

Nora put concealer under her eyes to hide the large bags as well as the acne that had formed over the night due to stress that she was currently in. To put it simply, Nora looked awful and no amount of makeup could make her look any better than she was. She didn't even have the energy to make her hair look nice so she simply put it back in a messy bun before slipping on her oversized gray sweatshirt and some skinny jeans as well as a pair of moccasins.

Her father didn't look much better than she. He too had bags under his eyes and Nora could tell he was stressed as he drove her to school and dropped her off in the parking lot with strict instructions to wait for him here after school.

Nora didn't make eye contact with any of the other students as she made her way over to her locker and pulled out her textbooks, her eyes drifting over to the chemistry book as she contemplated the grade she would get on the test. But to be fair, chemistry was the last thing on her mind as she slammed her locked closed and turned around to come face to face none other than Ethan Jacobs. He had been smirking at her but the grin on his face had faded away as soon as saw the look on her face.

"Hey," he said with a hint of worry as they started making their way to their first-period class, "you okay?"

"I'm fine," mumbled Nora as she dodged a couple of guys who were throwing a football in the hallway.

"You don't look fine," he said as his blue eyes took in her haggard appearance. Nora usually made an effort to look presentable for school, but today she looked awful and of course, he noticed.

"I just had a rough night," she said as they walked into the classroom and took their seats next to each other, "I think I'm coming down with something."

"Oh," he said as more students filed into the classroom, "well I hope you start feeling better. If you don't mind me saying, you look awful."

"Thanks," mumbled Nora as she pulled out her notebook.

"You ready for the chem test today?" he asked as he changed the subject.

Nora shook her head, "I didn't study at all last night."

"Well, I'm sure Mrs. Walker would give you an extension if you asked," he said as he leaned in closer.

"I had over a week to study," said Nora, "I don't have much of an excuse."

"Do what you want," he said with a shrug, "it's your grade."

"I know," said Nora as the bell rang, "thanks for the advice anyways."

"You're welcome," he said nonchalantly as Mr. Trevor walked into the room with his cup of coffee and his copy of Jane Eyre. This time, Nora didn't bother to listen as he continued reading the story to the class. Instead, she stared out the window at the willow trees that were swaying back in forth in the wind as well as the sunlight that was peeking out from the canopy of clouds.

She half expected the yellow flash to come running out from the trees but he never did and she scolded herself for even thinking about that. She was so focused on him that she was making up fake scenarios about him and that was the last thing she needed to do at this time.

Nora sighed as she turned her attention away from the window and over to Mr. Trevor, who was so focused on the book he failed to notice most of his class was asleep or throwing pieces of paper at each other. Ethan seemed to be half-listening as he leaned back in his chair and played with the eraser of his pencil, his eyes occasionally falling on her before looking away again.

As soon as the bell rang, Nora was already out of her seat and heading to her next class, which just so happened to be chemistry.

Nora spent most of the period staring down at the test and trying not to ugly sob as she tried her hardest to try and remember everything that she had studied, which hadn't been that much. She was never good at science and she didn't have much patience for it, but she knew she should have studied harder instead of running around the city with Kate.

What good did that do her anyway?

Nora turned in her test at the end of the period and managed to make it through the rest of her classes before stalking into the cafeteria and over to her usual table where her friends were already seated and waiting for her.

"Christ," said Kate as she shut her compact mirror and looked up at Nora, "how late did you stay up studying for that chem test last night?"

"I wish that's why I was up late," said Nora as she stared down at the mystery meat, "I'm pretty sure I failed it."

"Well join the club," said Kim with a small laugh, "Mrs. Walker's tests are BS. I'm sure you're not the only one."

Nora sighed at the attempt from the other girl to try and cheer her up, but while Nora felt bad about the test, she had much bigger things to worry about. It was only one test and Nora would be able to bring her grade up before the end of the quarter, but that was the least of her worries.

She needed to talk to Kate and get her stop snooping around Harrison Wells and the Flash before she ended up getting hurt. Whatever the story was with Harrison Wells, it wasn't worth their lives and Kate would just have to understand that.

"Kate can I talk to you?" asked Nora as she gained the courage to finally pull her friend aside and talk to her, "in private?"

"Sure," said the Asian girl as she and Nora walked out of the cafeteria into the empty hallway before coming to a halt in front of the lockers, "what's up?"

"Did you do any research on Harrison Wells last night?" asked Nora as she shifted her weight nervously.

"Yeah," said Kate with wide eyes, "you wouldn't believe what I found."

"What did you find?" asked a curious Nora as she looked into Kate's excited face. It was obvious that the other girl had found something and despite what had happened last night, Nora still wanted to know.

"So you know who Simon Stagg is?" asked Kate.

Nora had read a little bit about his death last night but she hadn't gotten the chance to finish the article before the yellow flash had shown up and threatened her. He had died a few months ago and the police had ruled it a homicide, other than that not much was known about his death.

"Well, I'm sure you know that one of his former employees tried to kill him only hours before his death, right?"

"I read about that," said Nora with a nod, "but someone else got him."

"Right. Well, did you know this former employee was a metahuman with the ability to duplicate himself?"

"Wait, what?" asked Nora. She had never heard of a meta that was able to duplicate himself, but then again, there was a lot about this city that she didn't know about.

"Not much is really known," admitted Kate, "this happened before people really knew about the Flash, but it happened and that's not all."

"What else is there?"

"Apparently an anonymous person who was at Stagg Industries that night saw Harrison Wells there just minutes before Simon's death."

Nora gaped at Kate as she processed this information. This was a lot and Nora wondered if the police knew about this, but she had a feeling that they didn't.

"And that's not all," said Kate, "just the other day a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter by the name of Mason Bridge went missing. People who knew him said he was working on a story, Nora. A story on Harrison Wells."

"How did you find this out?" asked Nora in a hushed whisper as she glanced around the hallway.

"You can find out anything if you dig deep enough," said Kate with a wink. It was obvious that Kate was on cloud nine, but Nora was starting to freak out at the prospect of what this could mean. They weren't supposed to be investigating the Flash or Harrison Wells anymore and if the man in yellow found out that they knew this.

Nora didn't even want to think about what would happen if that was the case.

"Well actually my step-cousin is the janitor over there and he told me that that this Mason was working on an article that had to do with Harrison Wells and-," said Kate before Nora interrupted her.

"Listen, Kate," said Nora as she started to feel panic bubble in her belly, "you cannot tell anybody this, you understand?"

"What do you mean?" asked Kate as she placed her hands on her hips.

"I mean you can't publish this," said Nora, "you need to forget about this story and move on."

"What's gotten into you? I thought you wanted to help me out," said Kate as her voice lowered.

"I did," said Nora earnestly, "but don't you think we're getting in way over our heads?"

"No," said Kate defensively, "look, I've been working on this story for a long time. Longer than you've been back in town and I'm not about to walk away from this."

"Please Kate," pleaded Nora, "you don't understand what's going on!"

"I understand perfectly," said Kate as she glared at Nora with cold and stony eyes before turning and making her way down the hallway.

"Our lives are in danger!" yelled Nora to a retreating Kate. A few students who had been at their lockers stopped and looked over at Nora, who stood in the middle of the hallway with tears running down her desperate face.

Kate froze for a fraction of a second before shaking her head and making her way back into the cafeteria, leaving Nora alone in the hallway. Nora stared at the double doors in disbelief and agony and she knew that Kate was going to go ahead with that article no matter what she said or did.

Anger coursed through Nora as she tried to run a calming hand through her hair before she finally decided to take her anger out on the lockers. She let out an angry scream as she began kicking the blue lockers with all her might before she fell to the floor in a heap of tears. She pulled her knees to her chest and let the tears pour freely down her face as she tried to keep the snot from running into her mouth.

It had felt good to let out her anger and frustration on something physical and she didn't regret it even as her foot began to throb and pulsate from the pain.

Kate hadn't even let Nora explain herself before simply walking away from her and it left Nora feeling hopeless. Their lives were in genuine danger and Kate had simply dismissed her and walked away from her when she tried to tell her what had happened.

Harrison Wells was a dangerous person and Kate knew that, but she wasn't about to give up on her story.

Kate would make one helluva a reporter one day but Nora feared she would never get to be if she didn't stop this investigation on Harrison Wells or the Flash. Why couldn't Kate see the danger that she was putting them in?

Nora knew it was a bad idea coming back to Central City and now she wondered if the yellow flash would follow through with his promise of hurting her. The way he had talked to her had given Nora the sense that he needed her for something but Nora had no idea what that meant.

"Hey!" said Ethan as he made his way over to her and sat down on the floor next to her, "what's wrong?"

Nora sniffled as she looked up into his cerulean blue eyes that were staring at her with genuine concern and she began to furiously wipe the tears away from her eyes in embarrassment. She never liked people seeing her cry, but as of late she had been nothing but an emotional disaster.

"Hey," he said as he stared into her watery brown eyes, "you wanna get out of here?"

"And go where?" hiccupped Nora.

He shrugged, "there's park nearby with swings and shit."

At that point in the day Nora just didn't have the strength to finish up her classes and so she found herself doing something she had never imagined she would ever do.

"Sure," she said with a nod as Ethan helped her up. Together they sneaked through the hallway and into the parking lot to where Ethan's car sat parked under a tree. He held the door open for her before he slid into the driver's seat and pulled out of the school and onto the road.

Nora knew what she was doing was wrong, but she didn't care at that point anymore. She knew she shouldn't be hanging out with Ethan since everybody had warned her to stay away from him, but Ethan was her way of escaping her horrible day at school.

He drove to the park and they both sat next to each other on the swings as they watched passing cars. They didn't say anything to each other and Nora was fine with the silence as the wind blew at their hair.

"I'm here if you want to talk," he finally said as he broke the silence between them.

Nora shook her head, "I wish I could but you wouldn't believe me."

"Try me," he said in all seriousness.

Nora stared at him for a few minutes before letting out a humorless laugh. How could someone like Ethan Jacobs possibly understand what she was going through?

But Nora felt as though she could trust Ethan. She wasn't sure if it was his dark curly hair or his bright blue eyes that would never leave her own and so she found herself telling him everything from that night in the park to Katie walking away from her.

He stayed silent the entire time, something Nora was immensely grateful for.

Nora felt as though a weight had just been taken off her chest as she told him everything that was on her mind and then some. He was the first person other than her dad that she had told and it was nice to know that there was someone out there who was willing to listen.

And at the end of the story, he didn't say anything or tell her she was crazy.

He just held her hand.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comment and tell me what you thought!


	7. Chapter 6

Central City

2015

"Wait, what?" asked Detective Joe West carefully as he stared apprehensively at the other man. Detective Joe West had always been a man that Michael had trusted and that trust had gone back years. They had both been rookie cops at the same time and they had worked many cases together and both were dedicated to the job, but Joe had stayed in Central City while Michael had taken Nora and moved to Coast City. They were still friends and now they were working together again, and Michael was certain that if anyone knew anybody knew anything about the yellow flash then it would Joe.

"Did you just say a yellow flash has been stalking your daughter?" asked the other man slowly with wide eyes.

"Yes," said Michael with a stony expression.

"A man in a yellow suit?" said Joe as he rubbed a hand over his temple.

"I know it sounds crazy," said Michael, "but considering everything that's happened within the last year I-."

"It's not crazy," said Joe as he stood up, "I know who this speedster is and he is very real and very dangerous."

"You know him?" asked Michael as he studied the other officers face. Being a cop for over twenty years had made him good at reading people and something told him that this wasn't Joe's first time dealing with this metahuman.

Joe nodded, "I don't know who he is, but I know what he's capable of."

"Well then do you have any idea what he wants with my daughter?" asked Michael with frustration. There was nothing he wanted more than to protect his daughter, but he had no idea how he was supposed to keep this speedster away from Nora.

Joe shook his head, "I have no idea. But I know someone who might."

"The Flash," breathed out Michael as Joe nodded in confirmation. It was obvious that the only other speedster in Central City would be the one to take care of this other flash and Michael prayed with all his might that the Flash would be able to help his daughter.

"Do you know who he is?" asked Michael as he looked around to make sure no one else was listening to them.

"Yes, I do," said Joe after a few moments of careful consideration, "and I promise you he won't let anything happen to your daughter."

"Does the Flash know about this man in yellow? Is he as fast as him?" he asked with curiosity.

"Let's just say that they have a history," said Joe as he pulled out his phone and started typing away.

"Joe," said Michael as he placed his hand on the back of a chair and stared over at the other man, "be honest. How much danger is she in?"

"Truthfully. If the Reverse-Flash is after your daughter then she is in danger. But the Flash won't let anything happen to her."

"I know I know," sighed Michael as he eased himself down into the chair and rested his head in his hands, "but I just can't stop worrying."

"She's your daughter," said Joe as he glanced over at a picture of his own daughter, "of course you're going to worry."

"Yeah," said Michael after a few moments, "I just wish I knew why he's doing this."

"That's something I would like to know as well," said Joe as he stood up and stared out of the window, "is there anything about your daughter that would warrant this sort of attention from him?"

Michael paused at the question and Joe could immediately tell that there was something the other man was not telling him.

"Michael?" asked Joe as he pressed him to answer his question.

"You know how Nora came to be with Rachel and I?"

Joe nodded as the memory of the day that Michael had found the toddler abandoned in the park with nothing more than a cotton nightgown on and in freezing weather. The girl's birth parents had abandoned her there and they had never managed to find out who they were and so Nora was free to be adopted by the Suttons. Joe remembered how appalled he had been at the state the child had been found in and he had assisted in trying to finding any of Nora's relatives so they could provide some answers as to why this had happened to her, but they hadn't found anything.

It was such a strange coincidence that only a month later Nora Allen was murdered and he ended up taking in Barry. Both he and Michael had taken in children that weren't there's and had made them a part of the family and that was something that Joe respected the other man for.

"Yeah I remember," said Joe, "why?"

"Well I wasn't completely honest about what really happened that night," he said with a long sigh as he ran a tired hand through his graying hair.

"What do you mean?"

"Nora was left there that night by the yellow flash," he finally bit out, "he told Nora that he has plans for her in the future and that's why he left her there."

"Why didn't you tell anybody?" said Joe after a few moments of calculated silence.

"Who would believe us?" asked a guilty Michael. His silence about that night was coming around to bite his butt all these years later and he regretted his actions.

"Good God," said Joe as he processed the new information. He didn't know why the Reverse-Flash was after Nora Sutton or what she even did to deserve his attention but he knew that he wasn't about to let another innocent person die at his vibrating hand.

What was it with the Reverse-Flash and women named Nora?

"Hey, you wanted to talk to me?" asked an out of breath Barry Allen as he breezed into the room with a cup of coffee in his hand. It was obvious to Joe that Barry was busy with the whole Harrison Wells situation that they had been investigating for the past few days. Ever since Mason Bridge's disappearance, it was obvious that there was something more to the scientist than he was letting on.

Joe was certain that Harrison Wells knew what happened that night and for some time he had even believed that he might be the man in yellow, but after finding that the blood splatter in the house didn't match, Joe wasn't sure what to believe.

But there was no denying that all roads seemed to lead back to Harrison Wells.

"Yeah I did," said Joe as he tried to come up with the best way to tell him the whole situation. He wasn't completely sure what was going on but he was hoping that Barry could help shed some light on what was going on between Nora and the man in yellow.

"You remember Officer Sutton?" asked Joe as he motioned over to Michael, who was staring at the two of them with apprehension. Michael wasn't sure why Joe was bringing the young CSI into the loop seeing as the kid wouldn't be much help to them, but he trusted Joe.

"Yeah," said Barry with a smile, "I think I met your daughter the other day."

"Did you now?" asked Michael as he looked over to Joe.

"Nora, right?" asked Barry as he stuffed his hands in his pockets.

"Barry that's why I brought you here," said Joe as he projected himself into the conversation, "Officer Sutton's daughter is in danger."

"What?" asked Barry as he looked between the two as he tilted his head.

"Why don't you tell him what you just told me?" said Joe to Michael.

Barry looked over at Michael expectantly as he waited for an explanation as to why this girl was in danger. Nora had seemed like such a nice girl and Barry didn't want anything bad happening to the teenager and plus it was his job as the Flash to protect the citizens of Central City.

"My daughter Nora is being pursued by a metahuman," said Michael, "a metahuman with super speed."

Barry's eyes widened, "the man in the yellow suit?"

Joe nodded grimly, "he's been visiting her."

"Why?" asked Barry, "what does he want with her?"

"When Nora was a toddler she was abandoned in the park by the yellow flash," said Michael, "I was one of the Officers who found her there. She doesn't remember anything."

"He left her there?" said Barry more to himself as he began to restlessly pace through the room as his mind started to work furiously. It didn't make sense what he was hearing but he didn't doubt it either. He just wished he knew how to fit this puzzle together so that he could help Nora.

"When did this happen?" asked Barry.

"February 3rd, 2000," he said as he watched Barry absorb the information. He still didn't understand how this young CSI knew about the yellow flash or why he seemed so invested in his daughter's well-being all of the sudden.

"That was a month before my mother was murdered," said Barry to Joe, "what was he doing in Central City the month before that night?"

"Excuse me," said Michael as he tried to keep up with that the kid was saying, "but what does this have to do with your mother's death?"

"Everything," said Barry and Joe at the same time.

"The Reverse-Flash murdered my mother fifteen years ago," said Barry, "her name was Nora too."

Michaels' eyes widened in surprise and shock as he processed the new information. He hadn't known the full story behind Joe's adopted son, only that his father had killed his mother and that the poor kid had denied that his father could do such a thing. It was a sad story and Michael had felt bad for the boy, but never before had any of them doubted that his father had done it.

But apparently, the Reverse-Flash was even more sinister than he had originally thought.

But it was a strange coincidence that his mother had been named Nora too. Did this sicko just have a thing for women named Nora? Is that what this was all about?

"I'm sorry to hear that," said Michael earnestly as he looked over at the younger man.

Barry nodded solemnly before walking over to the far wall where the evidence wall before turning it over so that Michael could see what was on it. It was littered with different articles as well as pictures that went back to that night when his mother was murdered as well as a few pictures of Harrison Wells.

Michael pushed himself out of his chair as he went over to observe the board, his eyes lingering over the many different pieces of evidence that Barry had collected over the years. He was impressed that Barry was this dedicated to proving his father's innocence and also by the sheer amount of evidence there was.

Was it Harrison Wells' particle accelerator that created the yellow flash? But that didn't make sense with the timeline seeing as the Reverse-Flash had been hanging around Central City years before the particle accelerator had even been built.

So how did Barry Allen connect Harrison Wells to his mother's murder? Was the scientist also connected to the situation with Nora?

"This is everything I've collected on my mother's murder," said Barry as he came to stand next to the older man, "everything I know about the Reverse-Flash."

"What about Harrison Wells," said Michael with curiosity as he pointed to the picture of the smiling scientist, "what has he got to do with any of this?"

So Barry and Joe explained to Michael everything that was going on with Harrison Wells and why they were suspicious of him. Michael listened carefully to everything they had to say about the man and he too grew more and more suspicious as he learned of what was happening.

He felt as though he had just learned about one of the biggest conspiracies in possible the whole world as they told him how the infamous scientist was connected the Reverse-Flash as well as Nora Allen's murder.

They still had no idea how this was all connected to Nora Sutton and they still needed to find a way to protect her from him. Michael knew they needed the Flash's help, he was the only person in Central City who could help his daughter.

"Okay, but what about the Flash?" said Michael after they had explained everything, "someone has to protect Nora from this metahuman and he's the only one that can."

"The Flash will protect your daughter," said Barry reassuringly, "you have my word."

Michael stared at the younger man apprehensively, "I want to talk to the Flash myself. Joe, you said you know who he is and you know how much danger Nora is in. I think I have a right to talk to the man who will be protecting my daughter."

Barry and Joe shared a long look and Michael got a distinct feeling that there was something they weren't telling him about the Flash. It was obvious they both knew who he was and Michael was fine with that, but he didn't want to communicate to the Flash through someone else. He wanted to talk to the Flash himself and see how dangerous this yellow flash really was.

He had a right to have assurance when it was his daughter who was in danger.

"Just trust us," said Barry, "we won't let anything happen to Nora."

"And how do you know that?" asked Michael, "Last time I checked, neither of you two is the Flash so I don't know how you two expect to protect my daughter. No offense," he said with raised hands.

"You want to talk to the Flash and you have every right too," said Barry as he took a step forward, "your daughter is in danger and you want to know what's going on."

"Barry-?" asked Joe cautiously.

"It's okay, Joe," said Barry as he reassured the other man, "he deserves to know."

"Know what?" asked Michael curiously as he straightened up in his chair and unfolded his arms.

"What I'm about to tell you must stay strictly between us," said Barry as he raised his hand in the air, "but you should know that your daughter will be safe because I won't let the Reverse-Flash harm her."

With that, his arm began to vibrate at the impossible speed that indicated that he was indeed the man in the red suit. It took the older man a couple of moments to realize what was happening and when he did he could only stare with awe and wonder.

He couldn't believe that the tall lanky kid who was always late to everything was the scarlet speedster himself and even though it was unexpected it did seem to make sense.

"Whoa," said Michael with a small laugh, "well I'll be damned."

"Yeah," said Barry as his hand stopped vibrating and he awkwardly shoved it in his pocket, "I wouldn't have told you but you seem to already be in the thick of things."

"Yeah," said Michael with a slightly dazed expression, "I don't know how I got there though."

"I think that's something we'd all like to know," said Joe.

"And to do that we need to find out who the Reverse-Flash is," said Michael as his eyes lingered on the picture of Harrison Wells.

"And we know that Harrison Wells has something to do with this all," said Barry with a sigh as he stared at the evidence board.

"Okay," said Michael, "so what all do we know about Harrison Wells? If he did have something to do with your mother's murder and my daughter's situation, then how are we going to catch him?"

"Alright," said Barry as he pointed to the board, "this is everything we know about Harrison Wells, which is actually not a lot."

"Didn't we read a whole book about him?" asked Joe as he took his seat next to Michael.

"Yeah. Six-hundred pages and the big takeaway is he's enigmatic."

"So your mom was killed by a speedster," said Michael, "and Wells machine did turn you into a speedster."

"That's way too many coincidences for this old cop," said Joe as Barry took a seat next to him.

"I agree," said Michael as he nodded, "If being a cop has taught me anything it's that coincidences are just unseen connections."

Joe pointed at Michael in agreement before looking back at Barry, who had been rubbing his hands over his face while he stared at the board in deep thought.

"Do you think that he wanted me to become the Flash?" he asked after a few moments of tense silence.

"Everything he's done since that night you were struck by lightening. Bringing you to STAR Labs, giving you the suit, training you. It's all been to keep you safe."

"And to make me faster. Wells once said that he needed more speed from me, but why?"

Joe shook his head, "I don't know."

"But whatever it is, Allen," said Michael, "it seems as though he wants something from you. Your best bet is probably finding out exactly what that is."

"Wells lets go get him, then. Let's go get some answers as to what's going on. I bet he knows what the Reverse-Flash wants with your daughter and I bet he knows something about my mother's death."

"We can't do that now, as much as we might want too," said Joe as Michael pursed his lips. He wanted answers just as much as Barry did, especially as to how his daughter played into all of this.

But the timing was everything. They couldn't just go after him without evidence or knowing what they were even up against.

Joe. You had your suspicions about Wells from the very beginning. You thought that he might be that man in yellow!"

"Wait, really?" asked Officer Sutton as he considered the possibility. But he knew it couldn't be true because Wells was in a wheelchair, or was he?

It was absurd, but stranger things had happened before.

"Except the blood from your house didn't match him," said Joe.

"What blood?" asked Michael as he tried to keep up with their conversation.

"A few months ago I had two blood samples from the crime scene tested against Harrison Wells blood," explained Joe, "but none of the two samples was a match for him."

"Alright, maybe he's not the Reverse-Flash. But you think that he knows what happened that night. He may have the key to getting my dad out of prison and keeping Nora safe," said Barry as he shot the other officer a look.

"Whatever Wells wants with you and Nora, it started fifteen years ago," he said with a shake of his head, "he's been patient. Scary patient. You gotta listen to me on this, we have to be just as patient," he said as he pulled the other half of the board down.

"Michael, where is Nora right now?" asked Barry as he turned away from the board.

Michael glanced at his wrist watch, "school should be getting out by now and I told her to meet me here at the station afterward."

"Good, I'd like to talk with Nora and see exactly what the Reverse-Flash told her and then I'd like to take you two over to STAR Labs and see what we can't find out."

"You gonna tell her who you really are?"

"If I must," said Barry.

Michael sighed as he dragged himself to his feet, "maybe now we can start getting some answers."

"Hopefully we-," began Barry before a loud noise caught their attention. All three of them ran over to the window to see smoke rising from the distance and it was obvious that there had been some sort of explosion, or multiple explosions from the looks of it.

All three men shared a look before Barry zoomed out of the room at super speed to investigate, leaving the two older men behind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I toyed around with this chapter a lot before I came up with this. I decided to tie it into episode 1X17 but I also changed things around a little bit. Now Michael is in on the secret and now he's going to help Joe and Barry investigate. I originally wasn't going to have him find out about Barry but I decided that it was only fair to Michael that he have some explanation to everything that's going on.
> 
> Now Barry knows part of Nora's story, but what more is there to find out? ;)
> 
> Comment and tell me what you thought!


	8. Chapter 7

Central City

2015

Nora and Ethan didn't say anything as they drove to the CCPD. There wasn't much they had to say to each other and Nora was happy to keep the silence as she stared out at the window at the passing cars and he slowly tapped his fingers against the wheel. The radio was blaring but Nora didn't hear any of the words to the song as she rested her head against her palm and breathed out a deep sigh as she stared up at the city skyline.

"Penny for your thoughts?" said Ethan as he broke the silence, his eyes wondering over to Nora before looking back at the road.

Nora sighed as she pulled away from the window and looked over at Ethan, who was trying to focus on her and the wheel at the same time. Nora was fairly certain that he could never understand just what she was going through, but she had already told him pretty much everything at that point.

"I just don't understand," said Nora as she absentmindedly played with a strand of her dark hair, "why me? Out of ALL the people in this city who actually are a threat to him, why me?"

Ethan breathed in deeply, "If you want the answer to that, you're going to have to figure out why he would abandon you in that park in the first place."

"I've tried! But nothing I can think of makes sense!" said Nora as she leaned back against her seat heavily.

"Well think about it," said Ethan, "he kidnapped you, right? And he left you there in that park for someone to find you."

"Yeah," said Nora in agreement.

"Then answer me this. Why are people kidnapped in the first place?" he asked expectantly as he waited for her to answer his question.

"Well money for one," said Nora, "they need money so they kidnap someone and hold them for ransom."

"But obviously this guy didn't hold you for ransom because he just abandoned you. Why would he kidnap you then abandon you? No, this guy wanted to hurt someone through you."

"You think he kidnapped me to get back at someone else?" asked Nora after a few moments of silence.

"It's the only narrative that seems to make sense," said Ethan as he pulled off the highway.

Nora wasn't sure she would ever figure out why a metahuman with super speed would kidnap her then abandon her in a park, but it was the only scenario that actually made a lick of sense. The only thing Nora didn't know was who the man in yellow wanted to hurt but if it was true, then it would have had to have been someone close to her.

But Nora had no memories to rely on she had no clue how to piece this mystery together. She didn't even remember being abandoned in the park because she had sustained a head injury, which was the reason she had a scar that ran from her forehead to her eyebrow. Her earliest memories were only of her parents and anything beyond that was just blank.

Her Therapist had also said that whatever had happened had caused her to have emotional trauma and that her brain had blocked off the memories as a coping mechanism.

"So the question you need to be asking is who would be the most hurt by the loss of a child," said Ethan pointedly.

"My birth parents?" asked Nora with wide eyes.

"Bingo," said Ethan as he took a right turn.

Nora didn't want it to be true, but for some odd reason, she knew it was. It was hard to even comprehend after believing all of her life that they had just left her there in that park because they didn't want her. Once upon a time, Nora had hated them for what they had done to her but over time she had learned to live with that pain. She had never forgiven them, but she had learned to live with that.

But now Nora was faced with the possibility that they had loved and wanted her and that she had been taken from them against their will. But if that was the case, why hadn't they looked for her? When she had been found they had put her in the news in hopes that any of her relatives would come forward.

Maybe her parents weren't from Central City, but even then her information had been placed in the national databank for missing and exploited children and yet no one had ever come forward. So if they had really wanted her back then they would have had the means to do so.

"I don't know," said Nora truthfully, "nothing makes sense and I just don't know what to think."

"Neither do I," he said before smirking, "You're quite the enigma Nora Sutton, aren't you?"

Nora harrumphed as she turned her attention back to looking out the window and scrunched up her eyebrows when she saw something foreign falling through the air slowly. She stared at it before realizing that there seemed to be little packages with red parachutes falling towards the nearby park.

They were driving by one of Central Cities many parks that was full of parents and their children, all of whom had stopped their activities to stare up excitedly at the falling packages.

"What are those-," began Ethan as the first package reached the ground and exploded in a cascade of fire and smoke.

The explosion had been gone off right in front of them and it was shocking enough to cause Ethan to brake and swerve as they hit the car in front of them with enough force to jerk them forward before their seatbelts caught them. Nora's airbag had exploded in her face, but she hadn't even felt it as she tried her hardest to undo her seatbelt.

It was only a matter of seconds before a second explosion went off, sending the nearby people running and screaming. It was mass hysteria as parents tried to grab their children and run away from the exploding packages and Nora knew that they needed to get out of there as fast as they could.

Ethan groaned as he pulled his face away from the airbag and looked around with a dazed expression, blood pouring freely from his nose and onto the white car bag.

"Ethan we have to go now!" shouted Nora as she tried to force her door open but found that it had been bashed in and getting out would be hard. Finally, she managed to open it enough for her to slip out and survey the scene before her.

Explosions continued going off around her and Nora knew that they needed to get out of there and she was about to run when she heard the screams of a little girl coming from somewhere in the smoke. Adrenaline rushed through her system as soon as she saw a confused little girl screaming for her mother as yet another explosion went off.

It was obvious that the child and her mother had been separated and were unable to find each other in the confusion and Nora knew that she had to do something. Nora had always had fast reflexes and as soon as she saw the girl she had jumped into action.

Nora sprinted towards the little girl and scooped her up in her arms and was about to run away when a scream pierced through the air.

"Nora watch out!" yelled Ethan as Nora looked to her left to see one of the packages hit the ground right next to them. Everything seemed to happen in slow motion as it exploded and Nora knew that there was no escaping the flames as the heat from the bomb disrupted the air around them.

Then something really strange happened. Nora, who had been standing on the ground, was suddenly flying through the air and she cried out in pain as she hit the hard ground which knocked the air out of her.

The little girl in her arms was fine considering Nora had cushioned her fall and as soon as they had hit the ground she had flung herself out of the older girl's arms and had run over to one of the women with tears pouring down her face.

Nora groaned as she lifted her head to see Ethan standing in front of her with his hands raised in her direction, but something was wrong. His hands seemed to be glowing an unnatural yellow color but the color was slowly fading away as he lowered his hands and stared down at her with shock and concern.

Nora had thought that it was the force of the bomb that had sent her flying through the air but upon seeing Ethan standing there with his hands glowing it became quite obvious what had really happened.

Ethan was a metahuman and he had somehow force pushed her and the little girl out of the way of the bomb and had saved their lives by doing so.

"Ethan?" she groaned as she tried to push herself up but stopped when she felt a sharp pain in her head. She must've hit it when she hit the ground and she wouldn't be surprised if she had a concussion from it.

"Nora!" shouted Ethan as he snapped out his shock and ran over to where she lay on the ground. He hoisted her up to her feet and started to drag her over the sidewalk. Nora was dazed and confused as she looked around to see something red zooming all over the place and she knew that it had to have been the Flash.

"Are you okay?" asked a worried Ethan as he helped her to sit down on the sidewalk. By then the bombs had stopped and now the park was practically empty seeing as most everybody had run across the street. A crowd of people had amassed across the street and many had their phones out as they recorded everything that was happening.

"I-I think I'm okay," said Nora as she touched the back of her head and pulled it away to see her fingers were coated with blood. She would undoubtedly need stitches and a CT scan after everything that just happened.

By then sirens could be heard making their way towards the park and the blaring noise seemed to drown everything else out. Nora winced at the loudness as she grabbed her head in both of her hands and leaned down so that her head was resting on her knees.

She was confused and the commotion around her did nothing to help her clear her head and process what had just occurred. What kind of person would bomb a park full of children? What kind of person would want to deliberately hurt children?

Nora sighed as she pinched her nose and regulated her heavy breathing.

Today was just not her day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know it's short but it wasn't without its surprises. Sorry for the long wait, I assure you I haven't abandoned this story.
> 
> So now we know Ethan is a metahuman but is he a good metahuman or a bad one? You'll find out more about his story in later chapters as well as his abilities and how he got them.
> 
> And if some of you missed it, this was directly tied into 1x17 the Trickster :)
> 
> Comment and tell me what you thought!


	9. Chapter 8

Central City

2015

"This may sting a little," said the friendly Nurse as she swabbed Nora's arms with an antiseptic wipe before sticking the IV into her arm.

Nora didn't flinch at all as she laid back in her hospital bed and stared at the curtains that separated her from the rest of the ED. The cool feeling of saline spread up Nora's arm and she sighed as she focused her attention on the television screen, where the anchorwoman was talking about the copycat Trickster that had been behind the parachute bombs at the park.

Some nut had decided to take up the legacy of James Jesse. Why they would want to do that, Nora had no idea.

"Where's your dad, hun?" asked the Nurse as she took her gloves off and threw them into the trash.

"He went to go get some coffee," said Nora nonchalantly as she started to play with the white bedsheets. She was still in shock at everything that had transpired not even an hour ago and she knew she wasn't the only one. Every news channel was playing the story on this new Trickster.

Nora hadn't been alive to remember James Jesse and his terror tactics that he had played on the City, but she knew what he had done to this City back in the day. Before the Particle Accelerator Incident, he had been the scariest thing that Central City had ever seen.

"Well, when he gets back I have some paperwork for him to fill out so we can go ahead with the CT scan. Then the Doctor will see you once he's gotten the results," she said as she patted Nora's shoulder.

Nora nodded, "do you know where the guy I came in with is?"

She hadn't seen Ethan ever since she had been admitted and she doubted that he had stayed, but then again he always seemed to manage to surprise her. Maybe he had stayed and she could get an explanation from him.

"The young gentleman that came in with you? I think he left."

"Oh," said Nora awkwardly, "thanks."

"No problem," she said with a bright smile, "you just get some rest, okay sweetie?"

The Nurse walked out of the closed-off room, leaving Nora by herself with only the sound of her steady heartbeat and her breathing. It was only a few seconds later that the curtains were flung back and her dad walked in with a cup of coffee and doughnut in his hand, which caused Nora to perk up.

"Is that for me?" she asked hopefully.

"It is," he confirmed but slapped Nora's hand away that had been reaching for it, "but you don't get until after your CT scan."

"Why not?" said Nora with a pouty face as she stared at the glazed doughnut. She was starving and the doughnut looked absolutely amazing, which only seemed to intensify her hunger.

"No food before CT," he said as he took his seat on the bed and grabbed Nora's hand, his eyes lingering over the bandages.

"Whatever," said Nora as she rolled her eyes, "besides, why are you even drinking coffee?"

It was late in the day and surely he didn't want to be drinking caffeine so soon before bedtime. He was already bad with his sleeping habits as it was and often times it fell on Nora to make sure that he went to bed at a decent time anymore these days.

"I'm working overtime tonight because of our dear new Trickster," said her dad sarcastically as he took a sip. Nora could've sworn she heard him curse under his breath as he wiped his chin off and frowned.

"Wait, what about me?" asked Nora, "I'm pretty sure it's not okay to leave someone alone by themselves when they have a concussion."

"You won't be going back to the house tonight."

"What?"

"I talked to a coworker about your situation today. He wants you to be moved to a secure location so that they can figure out who this metahuman is and what he wants with you. It's not safe at the house anymore and I'm done with this guy playing games," said he dad as his hand lightly touched the holstered gun at his side.

"Seriously?" asked Nora with a frown. Was that really necessary?

"Yes seriously," said her dad in a mocking tone, "you know as well as I do that this isn't funny. Whoever this yellow flash is, he's dangerous and I'll be damned if he hurts you."

As soon as he had said that, his blue eyes had zeroed in on Nora's head where the white gauze hid the stitches that were still achingly fresh. Nora didn't even feel any pain though, but she suspected that she would be feeling something when the numbing medication they had given her wore off in a few hours.

Good thing for Advil or whatever the hell they told her to take for pain. Nora doubted she would be getting anything heavy duty for a mild concussion, but she would never turn down Hydrocodone if it was offered.

Hydrocodone had been her best friend after the car crash that had taken the life of her mother, and not because it took away her physical pain from the injuries she had sustained in the collision but because it took her emotional pain away.

Although it had been years since she had last taken one, Nora really wouldn't mind taking another if it meant that she could take her mind off of everything that was happening.

"It looks worse than it is," said Nora as she noticed his lingering gaze. Nora was certain that the CT scan wouldn't show anything, but the Doctor still wanted to have it done. Dr. Brandt wanted to make sure that she didn't have a brain bleed or bruise.

"Seriously dad," said Nora as she swatted his hand away, "it doesn't even hurt."

Her dad sighed, his coffee sitting forgotten on the table, "Nora, I could've lost you today. I already worry about you as it is, but this? This is getting to be too much, sweetie."

"What are you talking about?" asked Nora with a wince as she pulled the covers closer to her.

"I'm thinking that once this whole yellow flash thing blows over, that it may be time for us to go back to Coast City."

"You're kidding, right?" asked Nora with a small smile before her face became stoic. Although Nora hadn't wanted to move back, there was something telling her that she couldn't leave.

Nora would be lying if she said she didn't want to return to Coast City, but there was something about this city. Something that told her that she was tied to this city whether she liked it or not.

Her father ran an agitated hand through his thinning hair, "we should've never moved back in the first place. This city has become too dangerous-"

"You wanted to move back," pointed out Nora with her arms crossed, "you said that Central City was our home and that it was about time we came back, remember?"

"I said that before a metahuman with superhuman speed started accosting you!"

"You're just scared because he knows where I really come from!" shouted Nora before she winced, her hand coming up to touch the white bandages. Nora sighed as she let her head fall back on the pillow and let out an exasperated sigh. She could already feel the medication starting to wear off.

She knew that it scared her father that there was a definite possibility that she had been kidnapped by her birth family and left in that park, and it that was true then there was a family out there who wanted her. Was he scared that he would lose her if she ended up finding her birth family?

Or to be more specific, her birth father? Nora didn't even know who her biological father was or if he had ever even wanted her, but she could tell that the very thought of him coming back into her life was a threatening idea for her dad.

But even then, her dad had nothing to worry about. If Nora ever did manage to find her birth mother and father, it wouldn't change the fact that Michael and Rachel Sutton were her parents.

Nothing would ever change that.

Her father was about to say something when the curtains were pulled back and a few Nurses came in.

"Are we ready for your CT?" the previous Nurse asked in a chipper tone as she handed her father the paperwork for him to fill out.

Nora nodded numbly as they helped her into a wheelchair, even though she had told them that she was perfectly capable of walking to radiology. They had, however, insisted that she use the wheelchair. Liability issues or something like that.

They didn't want Nora hurting herself and then suing the crap out them later.

Understandable but annoying.

"We'll talk about this later," said her dad as he handed over the paperwork and they led her into a large room with a bed with a round sort of thing. They had her lie down on the bed and told her to be very still as they started up the machine.

After the CT scan was finished, they allowed Nora to return to her bed in the ED where he father had been waiting for her. They had put a rush on her results and the Doctor should be returning to talk to them about the results.

Nora already knew she only had a mild concussion and that the CT was just a precaution. She was ready to get home and call Ethan to talk about what had happened in the park.

She had been in shock when she had found out that Ethan was a metahuman, but she had time to process this information and now she only wanted an explanation. She had never imagined that football player with piercing blue eyes was a Meta, but surely he wasn't like those Meta's who caused damage and hurt people.

Ethan did not strike her as that sort of person. Beneath that tough playboy exterior, he truly was a nice person, despite what everybody said.

He had saved her and that little girl and as soon as Nora had been admitted, he had disappeared into thin air. He had left before Nora could question him about his abilities.

"So does your coworker know how to contact the Flash?" asked Nora as she broke the tense silence that hung in the air between them. She was curious as to whether or not he had found a way to contact that Flash about her certain predicament.

Her father nodded, "more than that, I got to meet with him and talk about your situation."

"You did?" asked Nora with just a tad bit of giddiness. It wasn't every day that someone got to meet and talk to the Flash himself and Nora was a little jealous that she had not had that oppertunity.

Katie would have an aneurysm if she found out that her dad had met the Flash.

"I did," said her father as he leaned forward, "he knows who the yellow flash is."

"Who is he?" It was a simple question, but one that had been gnawing at her for some time. Who was her metahuman stalker? What did he want with her?

"They call him the Reverse-Flash," said her father, "he and the Flash have a long history."

"Really?" breathed out Nora, "is he going to help us?"

"He said we would," said her father as he took Nora's hand in his own, "he promised that the Reverse-Flash wouldn't hurt you."

Nora laughed, "is he going to protect me from the Trickster wannabe too?"

"You won't need to worry about him much longer. The Flash will take care of this whack job."

"He always does," said Nora as she turned her head to look out the window, her mind traveling a million miles away.

"Hello Ms. Sutton," said Dr. Brandt as he made his way into the room, "I have your CT scan," he said as he waved the file in the air.

"Good," said Nora, "can I leave?"

"You just have a mild concussion, nothing concerning so we can go ahead with the discharge paperwork."

"Great," said her dad as he took the paperwork from the Doctor and started to fill it out. The Doctor handed Nora a piece of paper that had instructions for aftercare on it and she read over it briefly before shoving it to her father.

Her father made his way out to the Nurses station to give them the paperwork while Nora got dressed in her clothes, which now bore the smell of smoke and were covered in dirt. Nora didn't mind though, it wasn't like she had anything important to go that night. Once she finished dressing she made her way over to where her father was talking to a woman who looked familiar.

The woman turned to look at her and Nora was struck with just how beautiful and stunning this woman was with her long brown hair and kind eyes. But it wasn't just her beauty that struck Nora, it was the familiarity as well.

Had she met this woman before?

"Hello," said the woman as she stuck out her dainty hand for Nora to shake, "my name is Dr. Caitlin Snow. I work for STAR Labs and I happen to be friends with Detective Joe West, your dad's coworker."

"Oh," said Nora in surprise as she looked over at her father before returning her attention to the Dr.

Dr. Snow must've noticed her surprise and smiled kindly in response before elaborating.

"Detective West asked if I could come pick you up and take you over to STAR Labs so we can ask you a few questions about the Reverse-Flash."

"Dad?" asked Nora in confusion as she looked away from the pretty lady. Was this the secure location he had talked about? STAR Labs that was owned and run by Harrison Wells himself?

"They're going to watch over you while I work," said her father reassuringly as he smiled at Dr. Snow.

"And ask me questions about the Reverse-Flash," stated Nora as Dr. Snow smiled down at her reassuringly.

"We're going to get the bottom of this, Nora," said Caitlin with a small smile, "you'll be safe with us."

"Excuse us for a minute," said Nora as she grabbed her father's arm and dragged him away until they were out of hearing distance, "are you serious? You're just going to send me off with some stranger and go back to work?"

"She knows the Flash," said her father as he placed his hand on Nora's shoulder, "I don't like it any more than you do but they can help you. And you need someone to watch over you while I work."

"Yeah but-"began Nora before she let out an exasperated sigh as she turned to look at the beautiful woman who was waiting for them to finish their conversation.

This woman was a stranger to her, but not even Nora could deny the familiarity that was tugging at her heart and memory.

She knew deep down she could trust Caitlin Snow, but she didn't want her father to leave her tonight. But he had a duty to this City to protect and serve and there was a crazed killer who liked to make bombs on the loose.

Central City needed its police force right now even more than Nora needed her dad.

"Fine," said Nora, "just call me, okay?"

"I think I can manage that," said her dad as he pulled her into a hug. Nora rolled her eyes playfully as she pulled away from his embrace and thumbed his uniform hat so that it hung down over his eyes.

"See you later old man," she said before making her way over to Caitlin, her doughnut finally in her hands as she chowed it down.

"So you work with the Flash?" asked Nora in curiosity as they followed her out into the parking lot, where her car was parked.

"I do," she said in confirmation, "he told me about your situation."

"And now you're taking me to STAR Labs?" asked Nora as she got into the car, "is that like his base of operations?"

"It's where we work out of, yes," said Caitlin.

"Cool," mumbled Nora under her breath as she pulled out her phone to look at all the texts that she had received from her friends. It seemed as though everybody knew that she and Ethan had been in the park earlier today and they were all calling to make sure that she was okay. Nora skimmed through the messages and was slightly disappointed to see that neither Kate nor Ethan had texted her. Kate was probably still mad at her but Nora didn't care, she only wanted to talk to Ethan as of now.

Hey, where did you go? We need to talk about what happened in the park today.

Nora hit the send button and sighed as she let her head rest against the chair. She was tired and spent for the day and ready to curl up on the couch with food and a good movie and just forget about everything crazy that was currently happening in her life.

Nora didn't feel like answering the rest of them, so she put her phone on silent and slipped back into her pocket her gaze lingering over her reflection in the mirror. She looked like hell and she was starting to feel like it since the meds that she been given at the hospital were starting to wear off.

Caitlin noticed the younger woman staring at her own reflection and smiled sympathetically, "we'll get you something for your head once we get there."

"So do you know who this Reverse-Flash is?" asked Nora as she tore her eyes from the mirror and focused her attention on the older woman.

Caitlin nodded solemnly, "well we don't know who he is, but we're working on that."

"But you will find out who he is? I don't really like the fact that he's stalking me and its really creeping me out."

Caitlin looked over at Nora before returning her attention back to the road, sympathy written all over her face as she observed the distressed teenaged girl.

"We don't know why he's doing this, Nora. But we will find out. He won't be able to hurt you anymore."

"How can you even promise that? I don't intend to be rude but it seems as though this Reverse-Flash is pretty determined, and it doesn't look as though the Flash has even come close to beating him if they have a history," said Nora pointedly.

Her life was on the line and she felt entitled to have her questions.

"The Flash and the Reverse-Flash do have a history," began Caitlin as she took a left turn, "a very complicated and long history that not even we completely know."

"The Reverse-Flash killed the Flash's mom, right?" asked Nora curiously.

Caitlin nodded, "her name was Nora too and he killed her and framed his father for the murder."

"So this is really personal to him, isn't it? That he gets justice for his mother's murder?" asked Nora as she remembered her own mother's death at the hands of that man who had decided to get drunk and then go for a joy-ride.

He had gotten prison time, but it still didn't feel as though justice had truly been served. How did a few years in prison compare to the fact that her mother's life had been stolen from her? And not just from her, but from Nora and her father and the rest of their lives.

Nora could sympathize with the Flash in that respect; the both of them having lost one of the most important people in their lives because of another person's actions.

Neither Nora nor Caitlin said anything for a few moments before Nora finally broke the silence and asked a question that she had been dying to ask for some time now.

"So who is the Flash, exactly?" asked Nora as they pulled into the parking lot of the round shaped building. Nora had never before been this close to the infamous building and she had never expected that she would ever get to see the inside, but here she was now staring up at the place that had been the epicenter of the meta freak storm.

"I don't think that I'm at liberty to discuss that with you," said Caitlin as she put the car in park, "the Flash likes to reveal his own identity to people."

Given the extenuating circumstances, Nora was certain that she would soon know the identity of the Scarlet Speedster and if he wanted to be the one to tell her then she was fine with that. He was protective of his identity, which masked superhero wasn't?

"I get it," said Nora with a nod, "he likes telling people himself."

"I hope you understand, but his identity isn't something that should just be tossed around. If the wrong people were to learn of who he really was it could be disastrous for him and the city."

Nora nodded her head in understanding, "all superheroes have a secret identity to protect. Tell me, does the Flash work in a cubicle all day like in the comics or is that just a common misconception?"

Caitlin grinned, "I don't think the Flash could stand working in a cubicle all day, but yes, he does have a job if that's what you're asking."

"I guess he's got to. I mean, being a Superhero is cool and all but it doesn't pay the bills, does it?" asked Nora as she undid her seatbelt.

"I bet he wishes it did," said Caitlin as she stepped out of the car and locked it before she led Nora inside the lobby. Nora looked around her as she followed closely behind Caitlin, who led her deeper into the bowels of the laboratories.

"So is the Flash here right now?" asked Nora curiously as she took in everything she could.

"He's out at the moment," said Caitlin as she shrugged her coat off and placed it on a chair before motioning for Nora to follow her into another room that looked as though it could've been where the Flash and his team conducted all of their- well whatever it was that they did.

Nora looked around the room, a strange tingling sensation running up her spine as a sense of déjà vu struck her. This place just looked so familiar, but then again everything these days were somehow familiar to her.

Nora's gaze passed over a mannequin that stood behind a glass wall, the famous red suit staring back at her from where it was proudly displayed. There was no doubt that this was the Flashes headquarters as Nora slowly made her way over to the glass wall, her eyes never once leaving the suit as she reached out with her hand to touch the glass. She suddenly had the urge to touch it as she tilted her head to the side, curious as to what the material the suit was made out of would feel to the touch.

"Is your head hurting?" called out Caitlin from the next room; effectively pulling Nora out of her reverie.

Nora had forgotten about her head, but now that she thought about it, there was a slight stinging from the stitches she had just received.

She pulled her hand away and made her way over to where Dr. Snow was before she gladly accepted the little white pill that she was given. It wasn't Advil, but Nora wasn't in the mood to question what it was as she quickly swallowed it before washing it down with some water.

"Your head should start feeling better here in a few minutes," said Caitlin with a small smile before she nodded back at the lab. "Now, let's find out what the Reverse-Flash wants with you."

"Sounds good with me," said Nora as she followed Caitlin back into the lab.

"I know this may be a strange question, but would you be willing to submit a DNA sample? From what you're father tells me, it seems as though this might have something to do with who your birth parents are."

Nora shook her head, "I'll do whatever you need me to just so long as you find out why he's doing this."

Caitlin walked over to a drawer before she pulled out an empty vial and handed it over to Nora, who gingerly took the vial into her hands and stared down at it before looking back up at Caitlin with a questioning look.

"I thought you might prefer to spit than have me draw blood," said Caitlin with an apologetic smile.

"Thanks, I guess," said Nora as she started the tedious and disgusting task of filing up the vial.

It was disgusting, but Nora found that she didn't mind much. If knowing where she really came from helped them find out why this was happening to her, then she was perfectly fine sharing her saliva with them.

She just hoped that this would finally give her some answers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, I am back and hopefully over my writer's block. I have a general idea of where I want this story to go, now let's just hope we can get there.
> 
> Also, if anybody has any cool superhero names for Ethan, I'm all ears because I have no idea what his name should be and we all know that Cisco will be the one to give it to him.
> 
> Thank you to all of you and thank you for being patient with me.


	10. Chapter 10

Nora grimaced as she wiped the spit that had spilled from the vial onto her sweatpants before she gingerly handed the vial back over to Dr. Snow, who smiled before making her way over to the lab. Nora really had no idea what the procedure was for testing DNA, but she watched intently as the older woman put on some latex gloves and added some sort of blue chemical into the vial before closing the lid and shaking it. 

Nora almost wished that she had paid more attention to the chapter about genetics when she took biology her freshman year just so that she could know exactly what Dr. Snow was doing with her DNA, but Nora was absolutely terrible at anything science related which meant she could only watch in mild fascination as Caitlin carefully took a swab and placed it inside a different tube. Then, she placed the new tube inside a small case before placing it into some sort of spiny machine that Nora vaguely recognized from a few crime shows she watched.

“So, what exactly are you hoping to find?” asked Nora as she folded her arms over her chest as Dr. Snow turned on the machine and ripped her gloves off.

“Your birth parents, for one. If they’re in the National DNA database, then we’ll find them and hopefully, we can figure out from there why the Reverse-Flash is targeting you. And we also have to test your DNA to ensure that you’re-“

“-Not a metahuman,” finished Nora before a small incredulous chuckle escaped her lips. “Although I can tell you right now that I’m completely and one-hundred percent human.”  
“We’re just taking precaution that we can. We don’t want to miss anything, Nora, for your sake.”

Nora nodded in understanding, “listen, I understand why you’re doing what you’re doing. But I’m telling you, I’m not who you or the Reverse-Flash thinks I am. I’m just Nora Sutton. I don’t understand whats so special about me other than the fact that I was possibly kidnapped as a child and adopted.”  
“You think you were kidnapped, Nora?” she asked softly.

“Well- I mean, I guess it makes sense. According to my father, the Reverse-Flash was there the night I was left in the Park and he told me himself that I was here because of him, so-“

Nora trailed off as she wrapped her arms tighter around herself in a self-comforting manner. It was quite obvious that her fear over the whole situation was starting to manifest itself, even though she had done her best to hide it.  
Nora was scared. More scared than she had ever been in her entire life.

“We should have the results from the test back in a few hours,” said Caitlin as she placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. “Hopefully we’ll finally have a definitive answer to your predicament.”

“An Answer to what predicament?” came an unfamiliar voice from the door as a young looking guy with long black hair in a Big Band Theory shirt came strolling into the lab with a sack full of Chinese food in his hand.  
He gave Nora a quick glance before he set down the sack of food and turned his attention back to her to as he inspected her carefully. Again, Nora couldn’t shake that feeling of familiarity-

“Cisco, this is Nora Sutton and Nora, this is Cisco Ramon,” said Caitlin as she stepped back to introduce the two of them.

“The girl Joe told us about, the one that’s being stalked by the Reverse-Flash,” said Cisco as he studied her some more, obviously perplexed as to why someone as normal looking was at the center of a deranged Speedsters attention.  
Perhaps he had been expecting someone a little less young or innocent looking.

“Hi,” said Nora awkwardly, not sure if she should stick her hand out for him to shake or not.

“So what’d you do to get the Reverse-Flash on your tail?” he asked as he shrugged off his jacket and threw it over the back of the nearest chair.

“I was hoping you guys would be able to tell me that,” she said pensively as she glanced around the lab one more time, still feeling completely out of her element.

“Well, not to worry Nora. Team Flash always has an answer,” he said with a grin as he sat down at the desk and began typing away at the computer. “Well, most of the time that is.”

“That’s comforting,” she said sarcastically as she sat down in the nearest chair. 

Cisco grinned as he furiously typed away at the keyboard, barely looking up at her as he turned his attention over to the screen. “Not to worry, Nora. Quick question, though. What day were you left in the park?”

“February 3rd, 2000,” she said as she rolled her chair over to where he was so she could peer over at the monitor at what he was doing.

“What are you doing?” she asked as he punched in a bunch of numbers into a set of different codes.

“I’m hacking into the city database. I’m going to see if I can find the footage from one of the street cams that night,” he said nonchalantly.

“Shouldn’t you guys be working to find the Trickster?” she asked as she looked back at Dr. Snow for an answer.

“We’ve already pulled up all the information we could find on him already. The Flash will have more information once he an Detective West gets back from Iron Heights. 

But for now, we’re fine doing a little investigative work on the side,” she said with a smile.

“Bingo!” yelled Cisco as he pulled up a grainy black and white video on the screen that was dated for that night. Nora could vaguely recognize the park, the one on 34th street where she was left all those years ago. How he had managed to find it was beyond Nora, but she was happy that the footage still existed at all.

“They keep footage for that long?” she asked in shock.

“You’d be surprised,” said Cisco as he pressed play.

Nora kept her eyes on the time-stamp as she watched the calm scene that was displayed on the screen as she patiently waited for something to happen. Her father had said that he had found her close to two in the morning, and the time-stamp on the video said eleven o’clock.

“Fast forward it,” she said to Cisco.

“How far?”

“About two in the morning,” she said as she watched the footage speed up until something caught her eye.

“There!” she said as she pointed at the screen. “Did you see that?”

Caitlin nodded, “I think I saw something too.”

Cisco rewound the tape and they all watched the screen as he put the tape on slow motion and zoomed in so they could get a better look at the scene that was playing out right in front of them.

Nora watched silently as a flash of lightning appeared out of nowhere and zoomed down the street too fast for her to really get a good look at it. She couldn’t help but shiver at the reminder of the Yellow Flash zooming around her and threatening her with his vibrating hand. Now seeing that this-this man had been there that night was overwhelming, to say the least.

The last few seconds of the footage showed two silhouettes running across the street with their guns raised before the footage cut out suddenly, leaving the two scientists and Nora baffled.

“That was the Reverse-Flash,” mumbled Nora as she sat back down in the chair. “My father was right. He was there that night.”

“We need to tell Barry and Joe,” said Cisco stiffly as he turned off the screen.

“Barry?” asked Nora as she raised her head to look at the two scientists. “Barry Allen?”  
Both Cisco and Caitlin shared a look before they both looked back at her awkwardly. 

“You know him?” asked Caitlin slowly and carefully as she looked over at Nora.

“I’ve met him a few times,” said Nora as she looked between the two of them. “My dad said that Allen and West were at Iron Heights and you just said that the Flash is at Iron Heights with Detective West.”

Realization started to dawn on Nora as she rose from her seat to look at them. “Is Barry Allen the Flash?”

“Uh- no. No definitely not Barry,” said Cisco, way too casually for him to be taken seriously.

Yeah right, you guys just gave it away. I’m not stupid you know,” she said as she looked over at Caitlin, whose eyes had already betrayed her.  
Nora couldn’t help but let out a small laugh at that one. The look on their faces was absolutely priceless and it was obvious that no one had figured it out this quick before.

“He totally is,” she said with a chuckle. “Oh my God, I never would’ve thought, but I guess it makes sense.”  
“How does it make sense?” asked Cisco as he scratched his ear.

“When I first met Barry we were in Jitters and he managed to catch my friend's cup when she knocked it off the table. I thought it was strange cause I could’ve sworn he was on the other side of the room when it happened, but then he just appeared out of nowhere and caught it! And of course he would have connections to CCPD-“ she trailed off, but the smile on her face still remained.

“Okay, you’re right. He is the Flash, but you can’t tell anyone, okay?”

“Of course, I wouldn’t ever do the Flash dirty like that,” she said with a grin. “Oh if only Katie-“

She stopped mid-sentence as the reminder of what Kate had done earlier that day came back. Nora was sure Katie would never talk to her again after what had transpired in the hallway at school that morning and Nora wasn’t sure that she wanted to talk to or hang around Kate anymore. She was already in over her head with the Reverse-Flash and they're snooping around Wells hadn’t gotten them anywhere except their own graves.

“Is everything alright?” asked Caitlin.

“Yeah, everything’s fine. I was just thinking how much my friend would be envious if she knew that I knew,” said Nora off-handedly. “But I guess she can never know now.”  
“Nope,” said Cisco as he popped the P. “This stays between us, got that? No telling your friends that you know who’s under that mask. Comprende?

“Si,” said Nora as she pulled her phone out of her pocket to check her messages. She had hoped that either Kate or Ethan had texted her, but found that her inbox was completely empty.

Please just text me back when you get this. I really really need to talk to you, Ethan. 

She typed out the message before hitting the send button and letting out a small prayer that he would stop ignoring her like he was. He probably thought she was angry with him, maybe even scared of him because he was a metahuman. But Nora knew Ethan was not a bad person and that he would never hurt someone, even considering the short amount of time that they had known each other.

Nora was usually a good judge of character. Her dad had taught her that much and she had always taken that to heart.  
Nora sighed as she looked back over to where her DNA sample was being tested. Hopefully soon, she would have answers as to why this was happening. And then Ethan would get to see if he was right in his assumption earlier.

“So, when do those results come in?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trying my best to find the time to continue this story, and heck I still have no idea how I am going to even fit this into the already existing plotline in the show. I'm going to have to take some time to figure that out, but rest assure I will continue to update this. Updates may take a bit longer than usual though and I am truly sorry for that. But now I am finally getting to the point where Nora's real identity will be revealed. Past that, I'm still trying to figure out lol.  
> If any of guys have any idea of where you would like this story to go, please don't hesitate to tell me. Any ideas are welcome at this point.  
> Other than that, have a good day :)


End file.
